Ukraine Ready To Work With European Operators Toward Gas Transit To EU - Vice PM

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) Ukraine is ready to consider the possibility of cooperating with European operators on gas transit to the EU, but it is the European Commission that must decide whether the European side needs such transit and whether it is ready to provide it.

This was stated today in Brussels during a press conference by the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna, who is in Belgium on a working visit, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

This is how she answered journalists' questions about whether Ukraine is ready to consider the possibility of using its transit capabilities to continue transmitting gas to Europe.

"The issue was raised by the Hungarian side yesterday during a meeting at NATO Headquarters, in the context of energy security. Also today, as far as I know, President Ursula von der Leyen will have contacts with Prime Minister (of Slovakia Robert - ed.) Fico. The Ukrainian position is very simple. We knew that the agreement with Russia would be terminated, we communicated that to European Commission in advance. In the event any requests are received from the European Commission, Ukraine will, of course, fulfill its transit function. But the ball is now on the pitch of the European Commission, and the agreements that Hungary can reach in this regard,” the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine noted.

Answering a clarifying question from journalists whether this concerns the transit of Russian gas, Olha Stefanishyna emphasized that the Ukrainian side is considering the possibility of working with European gas operators.

“We will work with European operators, and the European Commission must determine whether it is important for them to ensure this transit or not. But as of January 1, when the (transit - ed.) agreement was terminated, we had a clear vision of the European Commission that even a complete cessation of transit (of gas - ed.) poses no economic threat to the European Union,” the Ukrainian government representative added.

As reported, the transit contract for the transmission of Russian gas to Europe through the Ukrainian GTS expired on December 31, 2024. This caused a violent reaction from the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, who on December 27 last year, after a trip to Moscow, threatened to take action“in response” to Ukraine's cessation of Russian gas transit.

Official representatives from the European Commission confirmed that the cessation of Russian gas transit through Ukraine came as no surprise for the EU and neither did it affect the energy security of the EU or its individual member states.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during the visit of Moldovan President Maia Sandu to Kyiv, stated that Ukraine is ready, in agreement with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, to ship gas from Azerbaijan through Ukraine to European consumers, in particular in Eastern Europe. At the same time, the Ukrainian President emphasized that there will be no extension of the contract for the export of Russian gas.

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