Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine are to end on Wednesday, when a five-year deal between Ukraine's gas transit operator Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom expires. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would not allow Russia to "earn additional billions on our blood" and had given the EU a year to prepare.

The Russian energy giant Gazprom announced the move early Wednesday. Ukraine had refused to renew an agreement that allowed for the transit of Russian gas through its territory.

MOSCOW: Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine are set to end on New Year's Day, bringing down the curtain on Moscow's long period of dominance of supply in the European gas market.

Russian gas flows to Europe via Ukraine stopped as a key transit deal expired, raising the stakes for the continent’s energy security as it draws heavily on reserves.

Russia's energy giant Gazprom announced on Wednesday that it had halted the flow of natural gas to Europe through a long-standing pipeline that has carried Soviet and Russian gas through Ukraine for nearly six decades.

Hungary is in talks with Russia and Ukraine on keeping open gas shipments via Ukraine even though its Russian gas imports now come via the Turkstream pipeline, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday,

Vladimir Putin has said that he will not sign a new gas transit deal with Ukraine by the end of the year, dashing his allies, Slovakia and Hungary's, hopes.

European gas prices have jumped after Vladimir Putin abandoned a key pipeline transporting the fuel through Ukraine.

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has announced plans to supply gas to Europe while bypassing Ukraine. This comes as Ukraine’s President Zelensky refuses to extend the gas transit deal set to expire on December 31,

Vladimir Putin has condemned Ukraine’s decision to refuse an extension of the agreement allowing Russian gas to transit to several European countries. Earlier this month, Kyiv announced that the deal,