KIEV (AP/Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has told Europeans to expect a difficult winter as the war in his country leads to cuts in oil and gas exports by Moscow.
Zelenskiy was speaking on Saturday night after Moscow shut down a main pipeline that supplies Russian gas to the continent.
“Russia is preparing a decisive energy blow on all Europeans for this winter,” he said in his daily video address.
Moscow has cited Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine and technical issues for the energy disruptions. European countries who have backed the Kiev government with diplomatic and military support have accused Russia of weaponizing energy supplies.
Some analysts say the shortages and a surge in living costs as winter approaches risk sapping Western support for Kyiv as governments try to deal with disgruntled populations.
Last week Moscow said it would keep the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, its main gas channel to Germany, closed and G7 countries announced a planned price cap on Russian oil exports.
The Kremlin said it would stop selling oil to any countries that implemented the cap.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sunday his government had been planning for a total halt in gas deliveries in December but he promised that his country would make it through the winter.
Meanwhile, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine again lost external power, UN inspectors said on Saturday.
The last remaining main external power line was cut off although a reserve line continued supplying electricity to the grid, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement.
Only one of the six reactors remained in operation at the station, the agency said in a statement posted on its website.
The plant has become a focal point of the conflict, with each side blaming the other for nearby shelling.
Last week, Zaporizhzhia was severed from the national grid for the first time in its history after transmission lines were cut, prompting power cuts across Ukraine, although emergency generators kicked for vital cooling processes.