“Due to the repeated and explicit refusal of the Ukrainian side to extend these agreements, Gazprom was deprived of the technical and legal ability to supply gas for transit through the territory of Ukraine from January 1, 2025. Since 8:00 Moscow time, Russian gas has not been supplied for its transportation through the territory of Ukraine,” it said in the statement.

Despite the ongoing Russian invasion, which has killed tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians and laid waste to swaths of the country since 2022, Ukraine had continued to allow Russian oil and gas to cross its territory to serve its European neighbors — generating revenue for Kyiv and Moscow and illustrating how hard it is for the bitter enemies to cut ties.

“This is a historic event. Russia is losing its markets; it will suffer financial losses. Europe has already made the decision to abandon Russian gas,” he said Wednesday on Telegram.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the gas stoppage “one of Moscow’s biggest defeats,” in a post to X on Wednesday.

European Union leaders insist they can cope without the gas transiting via Ukraine, saying that the bloc has worked steadily over the past three years to cut its dependence on Russian gas, slashing imports fourfold. According to the Brussels think tank Bruegel, 5 percent of Europe’s gas imports came through Ukraine, based on data from the first eight months of 2024.

In the run-up to Wednesday’s cutoff, European energy officials had been coordinating with the nations most dependent on Russian gas — mostly those in Central and Eastern Europe.

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