Zaporizhia, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine on Wednesday cut off the flow of Russia’s natural gas through Kerr, which powers European homes and stoves, as the army in Kiev said it had made some success in fighting northern capital.-Oriental.
For 11 weeks, the war played out on the battlefields of Ukrainian cities and towns, but also on the energy and financial markets as Ukraine’s allies in the West sought to deprive Russia of the money needed to finance war through sanctions and energy embargoes.
The practical impact of Wednesday’s gas cut-off was not immediately clear to European households: the Ukrainian pipeline operator said supply would be diverted to another hub, and the analyst said transit should not be influenced.
But Russia’s state giant Gazprom pointed out a mistake: it claims it sends 72 million cubic meters of gas to Europe via Ukraine, down 25% from the previous day.
Preliminary data on the flow suggests that traffic at the second station in the Ukrainian -controlled territory will be greater. Russian gas also flows into other pipelines in Europe.
It is also unclear whether Russia will receive an immediate hit, as it has long -term contracts and other means of gas transportation.
But the move could have symbolic significance, as Ukraine has slowed flow to the West for the first time. It comes at a time when the EU is trying to reduce its reliance on Russia’s energy, gradually stop using coal and consider doing the same for oil. Gas is a more complex problem, because of how Europe is used and the technical difficulties in getting it elsewhere.
On the battlefield, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian troops had evacuated Russian forces from four villages near Kharkov – the country’s second largest city – and for a Russian attack on the eastern Donbas.
After his forces In the early days of the war he could not cross the capital of Russian President Vladimir Putin focused on the region, which is the center of Ukraine’s industry, and for many years it was also the scene of battles. between Moscow -backed separatists and Ukrainian troops.
Zelensky suggests that the army is gradually removing Russian troops from Kharkov. As his forces gather strength in a new counterattack, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba announced on Tuesday what appears to be increased confidence and expanded goals. He offered to the Financial Times The newspaper says Ukraine could have gone beyond simply forcing Russia to return to the territories it occupied 11 weeks ago before the invasion.
Kuleba’s declaration seems to reflect more political ambitions than reality on the battlefield: Russian forces advanced into the Donbas and controlled it more than before the war. But he pointed out how Ukraine suppressed a larger and better armed Russian army, which surprised many who were waiting for a faster end to the fighting.
Meanwhile, the British Defense Ministry said Ukraine was targeting Russian forces on Snake Island, on the northwest coast of the Black Sea, to thwart Moscow’s attempts to increase its influence.
Russia tried to strengthen its garrison on Snake Island and “Ukraine has successfully shot down Russian air defenses and Bairaktar’s unmanned aircraft,” the ministry said on Twitter. Russian supply ships are reported to have little protection after the Russian navy withdrew to Crimea The loss of the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship.
Satellite images reviewed by the Associated Press show discrepancy.
But the statement warned: “If Russia strengthens its position on the (serpent) island with strategic air defense and cruise missiles, it could dominate the northwestern Black Sea.”
The Ukrainian pipeline operator said it would suspend Russian shipments to eastern Ukraine, which are controlled by Moscow -backed separatists because of the intervention of the “occupation force”, including a clear gas leak. He also complained about route disruption last month.
European gas futures were seen in the news on Tuesday and Wednesday, meaning consumers could face energy charges, at rising prices.
Higher prices will benefit Russia, although it already has large foreign reserves due to the rapid rise in crude prices in recent months as global travel and business continue amid the widespread closure of the corovirus pandemic.
The hub in question controls about a third of Russia’s gas through Ukraine to Western Europe. Russian state-owned natural gas giant Gazprom is nearly a quarter of that number.
The move comes after Western powers sought to increase economic pressure on Moscow and strengthen Ukraine’s defenders. The U.S. House of Representatives approved a $ 40 billion bailout package for Ukraine on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said a Russian missile attack targeting the area around Zaporizhia had destroyed unspecified infrastructure. No immediate information was released about the victim. The southeastern city was a refuge for many civilians who fled the port city of Mariupol, which was destroyed by the Russian siege.
Since most of the fighting is facing east, some analysts have suggested that Russia could try to expand its forces into Kiev by hitting the southern port of Odessa. The main gateway to the grain feeding the universe As well as a major transit point Western weapons. Russia The city received several missile attacks this week, Ukrainians said on Tuesday.
To defend Odessa, Kiev may need to move its forces southwest, away from the eastern front towards the Donbas, where they are fighting near Kharkov to push the Russians to the border.
According to the Ukrainian border guard service, on Tuesday the Russian air force fired unguided missiles twice in the Sumy district northeast of Kharkov. The regional governor said the rockets hit several residential buildings but no one was killed. Russian mortars struck Belarus in the Chernigov region along the Ukrainian border, but no casualties were reported.
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Reported by Gambrel from Lviv, Ukraine. Jessica Fish in Bakhmut, David Keaton in Kiev, Yura Karmanau in Lvov, Mstislav Chernov in Kharkov, Lolita S. Baldur contributed to Washington, Calvin Chan in London and the staff of AP World.
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Follow the AP coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ucraina
Source: Huffpost
