Pipeline operator stops gas in 1 Ukraine hub

Ukraine’s natural gas pipeline operator has stopped Russian shipments through a key hub in the east of the country.

Wednesday’s move was 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 reroute the gas, though preliminary flow data suggested higher rates moving through a second station in Ukrainian-controlled territory.

The pipeline operator said Russian shipments through its Novopskov hub, in an area controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, would be cut because of interference from “occupying forces,” including the apparent siphoning of gas.

the Ukrainian pipeline operator 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.