Vital pipeline: Ukraine halts some Russian gas flows to Europe

Russian gas, a vital source of energy for many economies in the European Union, had continued to flow uninterrupted through pipelines across Ukraine since President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to invade in February.

But in a statement late Tuesday, the Ukrainian gas transmission system operator said it had decided to suspend operations at a key transit point because of “interference by the occupying forces.” The Sokhranivka measuring station handles as much as 32.6 million cubic meters of gas per day, or about a third of Russian gas flows to Europe, the operator said.

It said Russian interference, including the unauthorized diversion of gas, had “endangered the stability and safety” of the system.

Ukraine said gas volumes could be shifted to the Sudzha transit point in territory it controls. But Russia’s state gas company, Gazprom, said in a statement that was “technically impossible.”