Russia’s EU gas halt ‘blackmail’
RUSSIA said yesterday it had destroyed a large quantity of Western-supplied weapons in Ukraine, while halting gas supplies to EU and Nato members Poland and Bulgaria in a move condemned by European capitals as attempted blackmail.
With the conflict that has claimed thousands of lives entering its third month, Ukraine conceded Russian forces had pushed deeper into the country’s east and captured several villages, as Moscow intensifies its offensive to take control of Donbas.
Three people died and 15 others were injured in bombings in and around the eastern city of Kharkiv.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces targeted the “large batch” of weapons and ammunition supplied by the US and European countries using long-range missile strikes on southeastern Ukraine.
It said they hit hangars at an aluminium plant near the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with “highprecision long-range sea-based Kalibr missiles”, the ministry said.
It comes a day after a summit in Germany of 40 Western allies to discuss arming Ukraine where the US pledged to move “heaven and earth” to enable Kyiv to emerge victorious from the war.
Tensions are also rising in a breakaway region of Moldova bordering south-western Ukraine where proRussian separatists claimed shots were fired across towards a village housing a Russian arms depot after drones flew over from Ukraine.
The unrecognised Transnistria region has reported a series of explosions that it called “terrorist attacks”, leading Kyiv to accuse Moscow of seeking to expand the war further into Europe.
Russia said it had stopped all gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria as a result of “unprecedented unfriendly steps in the economic sphere” and their refusal to pay in rubles.
President Vladimir Putin last month warned Moscow would only accept payment for deliveries in its national currency, with buyers required to set up ruble accounts or have their taps turned off.
Moscow is grappling with the fallout from numerous rounds of
European and US sanctions that have targeted various sectors and left it unable to use foreign currency, including its own reserves.
“They blocked from us, or, to put it plainly, stole a fairly significant amount of our reserves,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
“So there is no question of blackmail here,” he said.
But the EU said it was “prepared” for the stoppage and was planning a “co-ordinated” response, labelling it “another attempt by Russia to blackmail us with gas”.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called it “a direct attack” on Poland, while Bulgarian leader Kiril Petkov described the move as “a gross violation” of its contract with Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Both countries have said they will be able to make up the shortfall from other sources.
The war has exposed the extent of the 27-member bloc’s dependence on Russian gas, which accounts for 45% of such imports.
Separately, the EU’s executive has proposed suspending all import
duties on products from Ukraine in a bid to help the country’s economy survive.
The targeting of Western-supplied arms came as the US and Europe have started to heed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s call for heavier firepower to push back the Russian advance now focused on Donbas.
Western allies have stepped up military support as Ukraine has maintained its fierce resistance.
Germany announced it would send anti-aircraft tanks. Britain said it would urge Kyiv’s allies to “ramp up” military production including tanks and planes to help Ukraine, with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss calling for Europe to cut off Russian energy imports, which would deprive Moscow of a key source of leverage over its dependent Western neighbours.
The Kremlin banned entry to 287 British MPs in response to UK sanctions against Russian MPs.
Moscow also said it would withdraw from the UN’s tourism body before a vote to suspend its membership.