Ukrainians make gains in east, stop Russian gas at one hub

Ukraine’s natural gas pipeline operator said Wednesday it would stop Russian shipments through a key hub in the east of the country

Smoke is seen after shelling strikes hit the east over Yampil, on the road between Sloviansk and Bakhmut, amid Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, Donetsk region, Ukraine. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Ukraine's natural gas pipeline operator said Wednesday it would stop Russian shipments through a key hub in the east of the country, while its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Kyiv's military had made small gains, pushing Russian forces out of four villages near Kharkiv.

The pipeline operator said Russian shipments through its Novopskov hub, in an area controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, would be cut beginning Wednesday. It said the hub handles about a third of Russian gas passing through Ukraine to Western Europe. Russia’s state-owned natural gas giant Gazprom put the figure at about a quarter.

The move marks the first time natural gas supply has been affected by the war that began in February. It may force Russia to shift flows of its gas through territory controlled by Ukraine to reach its clients in Europe. Russia’s state energy giant Gazprom initially said it couldn’t, though preliminary flow data suggested higher rates moving through a second station in Ukrainian-controlled territory.

The operator said it was stopping the flow because of interference from “occupying forces,” including the apparent siphoning of gas. Russia could reroute shipments through Sudzha, a main hub in a northern part of the country controlled by Ukraine, it said. But Gazprom spokesperson Sergei Kupriyanov said that would be “technologically impossible” and questioned the reason given for the stoppage.

Mr. Zelenskyy said Tuesday that the military was gradually pushing Russian troops away from Kharkiv, while Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba voiced what appeared to be increasing confidence — and expanded goals, suggesting Ukraine could go beyond just forcing Russia back to areas it held before the invasion began 11 weeks ago.

“Now if we are strong enough on the military front, and we win the battle for Donbas, which will be crucial for the following dynamics of the war, of course the victory for us in this war will be the liberation of the rest of our territories," Mr. Kuleba said.

Ukraine said Tuesday that Russian forces fired seven missiles at Odesa a day earlier, hitting a shopping center and a warehouse in the country’s largest port. One person was killed and five wounded, the military said.

Images showed a burning building and debris — including a tennis shoe — in a heap of destruction in the city on the Black Sea.

Ukraine’s targeting of Russian forces on Snake Island in the Black Sea was helping disrupt Moscow’s attempts to expand its influence, the British military said.

Russia has sought to reinforce its garrison on Snake Island, while “Ukraine has successfully struck Russian air defenses and resupply vessels with Bayraktar drones," the British Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update on Twitter. It said Russian resupply vessels had minimum protection after the Russian Navy retreated to Crimea after losing the Moskva.

That corresponds to satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showing the fighting there.

But the British military warned: “If Russia consolidates its position on (Snake) Island with strategic air defense and coastal defense cruise missiles, they could dominate the northwestern Black Sea.”

Even if Russia fails to sever Ukraine from its coast — and it appears to lack the forces to do so — continuing missile strikes on Odesa reflect its strategic importance. The Russian military has repeatedly targeted its airport, claiming it destroyed several batches of Western weapons.

Odesa is a major gateway for grain shipments, and the Russian blockade threatens global food supplies. It's also a cultural jewel, dear to Ukrainians and Russians alike. Targeting it carries symbolic significance.

To protect Odesa, Kyiv might need to shift forces to the southwest, drawing them away from the eastern front in the Donbas, where they are fighting near Kharkiv to push the Russians back across the border.

Kharkiv and its surroundings have been under sustained Russian attack since the early in the war. In recent weeks, grisly pictures testified to the horrors of those battles, with charred and mangled bodies strewn in one street.