Ukraine's Naftogaz to halt transit of Russian gas to EU

Chairman of the Board of Ukraine’s Naftogaz has said that Naftogaz, the largest national oil and gas company in the country, will not continue transit of Russian gas after the contract expires in 2024.

“Ukraine is ready to abandon gas transit, especially because Russia is not fulfilling the contract terms,” Chernyshov said in an interview with Radio Liberty, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

"Gazprom [Russian state-owned multinational energy corporation] is not paying according to its contract for the Sohranivka gas metering station [located in the occupied zone], so Naftogaz is not receiving enough funding to actually provide [transit] but is fulfilling its obligations regardless, and is filing lawsuits against Gazprom seeking to make it fulfil its obligations," he said.

He noted that Ukraine maintains transit solely to support its European partners.

"There are no other reasons, but we cannot deprive some EU countries, which are partners of ours, of the opportunity to receive natural gas and prepare for winter," Chernyshov added.

Naftogaz's CEO added that the EU plans to completely stop consuming Russian gas by 2027, so it is not insisting on continuing Ukrainian transit.