Russia cuts Poland, Bulgaria gas over Ukraine
Russia halted gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday, after blasts in a breakaway region of neighbouring Moldova led Kyiv to accuse Moscow of seeking to expand the Ukraine war further into Europe.
The Russian energy giant Gazprom said it had cut supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, in Moscow’s latest use of gas as a weapon in a conflict that has now dragged into its third month and claimed thousands of lives.
Explosions this week targeting the state security ministry, a radio tower and military unit in neighbouring Moldova’s region of Transnistria occupied by Moscow’s forces for decades followed a Kremlin commander’s claims Russian speakers in the country were being oppressed.
That triggered alarm that Moldova could be Russia’s next target in its push into Europe, with Moscow having exploited similar fears after launching its bloody invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
“Russia wants to destabilise the Transnistrian region,” Mykhaylo Podolyak, a Ukraine presidential aide, wrote on Twitter. “If Ukraine falls, tomorrow Russian troops will be at Chisinau’s gates,” he said, referring to Moldova’s capital.
The United States echoed similar concerns – though stopped short of backing Kyiv’s contention that Russia was responsible.
Russia warns Britain for provoking Ukraine “We fully support Moldova’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been lobbying for heavier firepower to push back the Russian advance now focused on the eastern region of Donbas. Western allies are wary of being drawn into an outright war with Russia, but Washington pledged Tuesday at a summit to move “heaven and earth” to enable Ukraine to emerge victorious. “Ukraine clearly believes that it can win and so does everyone here,” US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told 40 allies gathered at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
With arms flowing into Ukraine, Germany announced Tuesday it would send anti-aircraft tanks – a sharp U-turn dropping its much-criticised cautious stance. Britain will also on Wednesday urge Kyiv’s allies to “ramp up” military production including tanks and planes to help Ukraine, with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss
to call for a “new approach” to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We must be prepared for the long haul and double down on our support for Ukraine,” she is set to say, according to pre-released remarks.
“Heavy weapons, tanks, aeroplanes – digging deep into our inventories, ramping up production. We need to do all of this,” she will add.
“There must be nowhere for Putin to go to fund this appalling war.” Truss will also urge Europe to cut off Russian energy imports “once and for all” a move that would deprive Moscow of a key source of leverage over its dependent western neighbours.