A victory hailed as “one of Moscow’s biggest defeats” by Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, was not won on the battlefield.

Russia had already cut off energy supplies to EU countries like Germany and Poland in the wake of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. However, a handful of member countries, including Slovakia, Hungary and Austria, have continued to purchase Russian gas despite a bloc-wide commitment to end reliance on Moscow by 2027.

Russian gas exports via Soviet-era pipelines running through Ukraine came to a halt on New Year's Day, marking the end of decades of Moscow's dominance over Europe's energy markets.

Ukraine hailed the end of the gas transit deal amid Russia's invasion. But Russia said European living standards will suffer.

Angered by Ukraine's transit stoppage for Russian gas, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico is threatening to take measures against Ukrainian refugees. Speaking in the capital Bratislava on Thursday,

Natural gas prices in Europe have risen since Ukraine ended the flow of Russian gas across its territory into the EU. Moscow once supplied more than a third of Europe’s needs, but the continent has weaned itself off Russian gas following the Kremlin’s '22 invasion of Ukraine.

Austria has insisted it is well prepared for the stoppage, but Slovakia has threatened to cut electricity supplies to neighboring Ukraine.

Russian gas is no longer flowing to EU states through Ukraine following the expiration of a five-year deal, closing an energy route that has existed since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991.President Volodymyr Zelensky said the move means Russia can no longer “earn billions on our blood”.