Reuters reports that the "widely expected stoppage will not impact prices for consumers in the European Union - unlike in 2022, when falling supplies from Russia sent prices to record highs, worsened a cost-of-living crisis and hit the bloc's competitiveness."
Transdniestria, a pro-Russian region in Moldova, however, which depends on Gazprom, shut off heat and hot water for residents and urged residents to dress warmly and try to keep heat inside their homes by securing drafts at windows and doors.
Slovakia and Austria were the last European nations that were buyers of the Russian gas. Slovakia said that nation has "enough gas storage and alternative supplies for 2025." However, they had fought to keep the arrangement as it was and urged Ukraine's government to allow a renewed transit deal despite the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. Slovakia will now pay more for the same gas transported through other nations.
"We stopped the transit of Russian gas. This is a historic event. Russia is losing its markets, it will suffer financial losses," said Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko. The move to disallow the transit of natural gas through Ukraine will cost the nation $1 billion and in an attempt to offset those losses, they will drastically increase gas transmisison tariffs for domestic consumers. Gazprom will suffer a $5 billion annual loss.
The EU issued a statement, saying "The European gas infrastructure is flexible enough to provide gas of non-Russian origin. It has been reinforced with significant new LNG (liquefied natural gas) import capacities since 2022."
At one time, Russia provided 35% of European gas. After their invasion of neighbor Ukraine in February 2022, the EU sought to diversify their energy sources and has been bringing in more gas from Norway, Qatar, and the US.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a statement on X:
