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And why didn’t it cut off Russia’s natural gas earlier?
The Compressor and distribution station of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod gas pipeline, in the Kursk region of Russia. Credit… Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters Jan. 1, 2025
Natural gas stopped flowing through a pipeline that runs from Russia through Ukraine on Wednesday, according to officials in both countries.
The effects of the halt, though long expected, could ripple through Europe’s energy sector and potentially affect Moscow’s ability to fund its war in Ukraine.
What happened? Ukraine refused to renew an agreement that allowed Russia to send natural gas through a pipeline to Europe. The deal was honored even after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, kicking off the bloodiest European conflict since World War II.
The Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline was built in the Soviet era to carry Siberian gas to European markets. It became the main conduit to Ukraine’s border with Slovakia from Siberia, passing through the town of Sudzha — which is now under the control of Ukrainian military forces — in Russia’s Kursk region.
The pipeline was Russia’s last major gas corridor to Europe following the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline to Germany — probably by Ukraine — and the closure of a route through Belarus to Poland.
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