Ukraine succeeds in cutting Russia natural gas at one hub

By Our Special Correspondent

Ukraine stopped the flow of Russian natural gas through one of the hubs that feed Western European homes and industry on Wednesday, sending a fresh wave of energy jitters through Europe.

Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova said her office charged Sgt. Vadin Shyshimarin, 21, in the killing of an unarmed 62-year-old civilian who was gunned down while riding a bicycle in February, four days into the war. Shyshimarin, who served with a tank unit, was accused of firing through a car window on the man in the northeastern village of Chupakhivka. Venediktova said the soldier could get up to 15 years in prison. She did not say when the trial would start. Venediktova’s office has said it has been investigating more than 10,700 alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces and has identified over 600 suspects.

Preliminary flow data suggested that was already happening, though Russia’s state-owned giant Gazprom indicated the amount of gas flowing to Europe through Ukraine was down 25 per cent from the day before. Spot gas prices rose four per cent at the opening of trading Wednesday, to €103 per megawatt. But they later eased to around €95 per megawatt hour, below where they were Tuesday.

Russia has repeatedly used annexation or recognition of breakaway republics as tactics in recent years to gain pieces of fellow former Soviet republic Ukraine and Georgia. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 after holding a referendum on the peninsula over whether it wanted to become part of Russia.