The transit route of Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine is in operation, the minister said By Reuters

MYKOLAIV, Ukraine (Reuters) – The transit route for Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine is still operational, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said on Thursday after reports of hostilities at the Sudzha gas transit station.

He said that Ukraine has not been contacted by Russia regarding the gas transit situation.

Russia said on Wednesday it was waging heavy fighting against Ukrainian forces that crossed the border near the main transport hub of Sudzha, in one of the biggest incursions into Russian territory since the start of the war.

The Sudzha gas transfer and metering stations in the Kursk region of Russia is the only point of entry of Russian natural gas into the Ukrainian gas transmission system for onward transport to Europe.

Ukraine’s gas transport operator told Reuters on Thursday that Russian natural gas continued to transit to Europe via Ukraine as normal.

The operator later said Russia’s Gazprom ( MCX: ) plans to deliver about 41.7 million cubic meters of gas through Ukraine on Friday, up from 37.25 million cubic meters planned on Thursday.

In May 2022, at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian transit operator stopped transporting gas on an alternative branch through the Sokhranivka transit point, close to the Lugansk region in the east.

Ukraine said Russian forces had begun taking gas transiting through Ukraine and sending it to two Russian-backed separatist regions in the country’s east.

After the closure of Sokhranivka, transit volumes fell by a quarter, as Gazprom said it could not divert volumes to Sudzha.

The agreement on the transit of Russian gas to Europe through Ukraine expires in 2024, and Kiev has said it has no intention of extending it or concluding a new agreement.