Ukraine is under mounting pressure from Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and a group of central European companies to keep gas moving from its eastern border with Russia into the European Union

Hungary is in talks with Russia and Ukraine on keeping open gas shipments via Ukraine even though its Russian gas imports now come via the Turkstream pipeline, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday,

The EU has a non-binding goal of stopping all Russian energy imports by 2027. “The end of Ukraine transit could speed up this decoupling, and would also imply a loss of $6.5 billion annually for Russia, unless it can redirect these flows to other pipelines or LNG terminals,” Bruegel said.

Vladimir Putin has said that he will not sign a new gas transit deal with Ukraine by the end of the year, dashing his allies, Slovakia and Hungary's, hopes.

European gas prices have jumped after Vladimir Putin abandoned a key pipeline transporting the fuel through Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin has condemned Ukraine’s decision to refuse an extension of the agreement allowing Russian gas to transit to several European countries. Earlier this month, Kyiv announced that the deal,

The agreement allowing Russian gas to transit through Ukraine to Europe will expire in a few days. Our eastern neighbors have already announced that they do not intend to extend it. The Kremlin is trying to put on a brave face,