Russia cut off natural gas flow to Finland as a step to escalate the conflict with Western countries over energy payments. Moscow also declared victory in the weeks-long battle over the steel mill in Mariupol.
Russia has launched a major operation to seize the last territory under Kiev’s control in Luhansk, one of the two regions that make up the Donbas in southeastern Ukraine. Before Russia’s invasion of Donbas on February 24, the separatists supported by Russia already controlled a large amount of land.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the last part of the Ukrainian forces that took refuge in the Azovstal steel plant surrendered.
The Ministry reported that 2,439 Ukrainians surrendered in the last few days, and that there were 531 people in the last surrender group.
While the Ukrainian authorities have not yet confirmed the figures regarding Azovstal, the Ukrainian General Staff has not commented on Russia’s declaration of victory.
The end of the war in Mariupol, Russia’s largest city to date, gives Russian President Vladimir Putin one of his rare moments of victory in the war in Ukraine.
Zelensky: “All these victories of Russia are temporary”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the local television channel that the clashes will be bloody and victorious, but ultimately the solution can only be achieved through diplomacy. “For them, all these victories, the occupation of Crimea and Donbas are very temporary. We will return to all of these places because it is our land,” he said.
Full control of Mariupol would give Russia a land route of connection between the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed in 2014, and the Russian mainland and areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Gazprom cuts gas to Finland
Meanwhile, the Russian energy company Gazprom announced that it has cut off gas shipments to neighboring Finland, on the grounds that it did not make payments in rubles for gas supplies.
This step came a few days after Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO.
After the invasion of Ukraine, especially in Russia, which was faced with the sanctions of Western countries, with a decree introduced in April, the countries supplying natural gas from Russia were requested to make payments in rubles. Accordingly, the flow of natural gas to Poland and Bulgaria was also stopped a few weeks ago.
In Finland, the state-owned energy company Gasum, the Finnish government and gas consumption companies have reported that they are prepared for Russia to stop gas flow and that there will be no interruption in natural gas shipments.