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On Wednesday evening, Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko said the Ukrainian army had established control over the Sudzha gas hub - a major gas facility involved in the transit of natural gas from Russia to the EU via Ukraine, which has continued despite the war. It is the only point of entry for Russian gas into the EU.
Although this has not been verified by the BBC, Mr Honcharenko’s comment was the first confirmation of an incursion into Russian territory by a Ukrainian official. Kyiv had previously not commented on reports of a cross-border attack.
But Ukraine was making a ton of money transporting Russian gas over their territory (before the war). Presumably they want the war to end with some kind of agreement that restores this deal, no?
Sure, if the agreement is that Ukraine gets gas for free for the next 100 years as part of reperations russia has to pay.
They where making a lot of money there. But Russia was making more money and used it to stash a fund that allows them to finance this war and stave off the effects of the sanctions.
Ukraine will need to do much rebuilding anyway… this allows them to leave Russia with a destroyed gas node and less income all the while keeping plausible deniability on who destroyed it. Russians blow up stuff “they did not mean to” all the time. No need to question who is to blame for the destruction of the node… it’s the party that started shooting.
Plus it gives Orban something to explain back home too once his citizens end up in the cold. Or he needs to pivot and spend his euros elsewhere meaning less money for Russia.
Win-win-win…
Russia has consistently used that gas as leverage over Ukraine and the EU for the past 20 years or so.
And the EU was happy to buy it instead of transitioning away from it, thinking trading with Russia would pacify it.