Kyiv (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Ukraine sustained high gas imports at 16.3 million cubic meters on February 9, maintaining the source from the European Union market, Reuters reported.
According to Reuters, data supplied by the operator of the state-run gas transmission system showed that Kyiv will keep gas imports at a record high of 16.3 million cubic meters (mcm).
The data offered Ukraine would import 7.1 mcm of gas from Hungary, 7.3 mcm from Slovakia and 1.8 mcm from Poland. Ukraine started sharply expanding its gas imports last week after a series of Russian missile aggression in recent months hitting Ukrainian gas sector structures.
What led Ukraine to halt Russian gas transit?
From 1 January 2025, Ukraine officially terminated the transportation of Russian natural gas through its territory to Europe and Moldova. European partners anticipated this move; it is within the framework of reducing dependence on Russian energy supplies.
Ukraine lacks domestic production; therefore, substantial gas imports are needed, whereas storage reserves have already been depleted. Energy Minister German Halushchenko said that at least 1 billion cubic meters (bcm) would have to be imported by the end of 2025.
Given the rising tensions with Russia since early 2014 and further escalations since February 2022 in the current conflict, Ukraine has significantly curtailed its reliance on Russian gas supplies. Ukraine’s annual average of imported natural gas stood at around 38.7 billion cubic meters (bcm).
It peaked in 1996 at 67.8 bcm and hit an all-time low in December 2023 at 0.444 bcm. It imported massive volumes from Europe, especially via pipelines from Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland. In 2021 alone, it imported around 2.6 billion cubic meters (bcm) from European sources.
