Putin’s gas threat as Ukraine, West dismiss de-escalation claim

Russia has threatened to turn off its gas taps to Europe, amid growing scepticism over Moscow’s claim it is scaling back its onslaught.

Russia has threatened to turn off its gas taps to Europe, opening up a new front in its war in Ukraine amid growing scepticism over Moscow’s claim it is scaling back its onslaught.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia was consolidating and preparing “powerful strikes” in the country’s south, including besieged Mariupol, where a new attempt will be made on Friday night to evacuate civilians from the devastated city.

The EU was to hold a virtual summit with China on Friday night amid increasing alarm over Beijing’s growing proximity with Moscow and its reluctance to ­condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Chinese President Xi ­Jinping will hold the video conference with EU leaders Charles ­Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, carrying through on an annual ­exercise that was skipped last year as tensions simmered.

Over a month into Russia’s ­invasion of its neighbour, Vladimir Putin’s troops have devastated ­cities like Mariupol with shelling, killing at least 5000 people in the port city alone. But they have struggled to take any significant territory. Moscow insisted things were going to plan as it said this week it would scale back attacks on capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernigiv. Mr Zelensky has dismissed the promise as a red ­herring, and US President Joe Biden said he was “sceptical”.

Instead, the US and NATO shared Mr Zelensky’s reading that Moscow may be seeking to regroup and resupply for its offensive in the eastern Donbas region.

“This is part of their tactics,” said Mr Zelensky in a Thursday night address. “We know that they are moving away from the areas where we are beating them to focus on others that are very important … where it can be difficult for us.”

Relatives of Ukrainian military member, Yuriy Oliynyk, during his burial at the Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv, Ukraine. He was killed while fighting against the Russian military in the East of the country. Picture: Getty Images

In particular, he warned, the situation in the country’s south was “very difficult”. “In Donbas and Mariupol, in the Kharkiv ­direction, the Russian army is ­accumulating the potential for ­attacks, powerful attacks,” he said.

Washington echoed that assessment, with a senior US defence official saying Russia’s focus on Donbas could herald a “longer, more prolonged conflict”.

Russia had moved about 20 per cent of its troops from around Kyiv after failing to capture the city, which continued to be targeted by Russian air strikes, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

“It’s not exactly clear where they’re going to go,” he said, “but we don’t see any indication that they’re going to be sent home.”

Ukraine did confirm Russian troops had pulled back from the Chernobyl nuclear site after occupying it for weeks.

Highlighting Russia’s underestimation of Ukraine’s dogged ­defence, Mr Biden said there was some indication that Mr Putin was out of touch with the situation on the ground. Western intelligence has warned the Russian leader’s ­advisers may be “afraid to tell him the truth” about battlefield losses or the damage that sanctions have wrought on the country’s economy.

A destroyed Russian tank i in Malaya Rohan, which has reportedly been retaken by the Ukrainian military. Picture: Getty Images

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the assessments, saying Western officials “don’t understand President Putin, they don’t understand the mechanism for taking decisions and they don’t understand the style of our work”.

Mr Biden was notably cautious.

Mr Putin “seems to be self-­isolated and there’s some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers,” the US President said. But he said he did not want to put “too much stock” into the reports.

With his economy crippled by unprecedented international sanctions, Mr Putin on Thursday sought to leverage Russia’s status as an energy power, warning that EU members would need to set up rouble accounts from Friday to pay for Russian gas. The EU has joined the US in imposing sanctions – however, mindful of their power needs, the bloc has stopped short of an energy embargo.

“If such payments are not made, we will consider this a breach of obligations on the part of our buyers” and existing contracts would be stopped, Mr Putin said.

Germany, which before Mr Putin’s offensive in Ukraine ­imported 55 per cent of its gas ­supplies from Russia, insisted that it would pay in euros or dollars as stipulated in contracts.

Berlin and Paris were also “preparing” for Russian gas to simply stop flowing, France’s economy minister said.

Mr Biden moved to mitigate rising fuel prices by announcing a release from strategic US reserves of a million barrels daily for six months. It is by far the largest tapping of the stockpiles in US history, and amounts to augmenting global supplies by about 1 per cent.

AFP