Zelenskiy Warns Europe to Brace for a Hard Winter as Russia Cuts Energy Exports

On Saturday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy used his daily video address to tell Europeans what he expected from the months ahead. "Russia is preparing a decisive energy blow on all Europeans for this winter," he said. He spoke after Moscow shut down a main pipeline carrying Russian gas to the continent.

The pipeline is Nord Stream 1, Russia's principal gas channel to Germany. Last week Moscow said it would keep it closed. Around the same time, the G7 countries announced a planned price cap on Russian oil exports, and the Kremlin answered that it would stop selling oil to any country that put the cap into effect. Russia has pointed to Western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine and to technical issues to explain the disruptions. European governments that have backed Kyiv diplomatically and militarily accuse Moscow of using energy supplies as a weapon.

On Sunday, European leaders worked on ways to soften the blow of high energy prices. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told a news conference in Berlin that his government had been planning for a total halt in gas deliveries in December. He promised measures to lower prices and to tie social benefits to inflation. "Russia is no longer a reliable energy partner," he said. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev answered by calling Germany "an unfriendly country" and an enemy of Russia, saying it had in effect declared a hybrid war on Russia. Also on Sunday, Finland and Sweden announced plans to offer billions of dollars to power companies to keep them from insolvency.

Some analysts say the shortages, together with a surge in the cost of living as winter nears, could wear down Western support for Kyiv as governments face disgruntled populations. In a separate development, the U.S. embassy in Moscow said Ambassador John Sullivan, appointed by then-President Donald Trump in 2019, had left his post and was retiring from the diplomatic service. A State Department official said he had served a typical tour length.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine remained a second source of anxiety. Russian troops seized it shortly after President Vladimir Putin sent his army over the border on Feb. 24, and it has since become a focal point of the war. On Saturday, U.N. inspectors said it had again lost external power. The International Atomic Energy Agency said the last remaining main external power line had been cut, though a reserve line was still supplying electricity to the grid. Only one of the plant's six reactors was still operating.

On Sunday, Russian official Vladimir Rogov told Komsomolskaya Pravda radio that the situation around the plant was calm, with no shelling or incursions. Russia has twice accused Ukraine of trying to capture the plant in the past two days, while Ukraine says Russia itself attacked the area. Each side has blamed the other for shelling that has stoked fears of a nuclear disaster. Rogov was quoted as saying IAEA experts would keep working at the plant until at least Monday. An IAEA mission toured the site last week, and some experts stayed on pending the release of the agency's report. The plant is still run by Ukrainian staff. Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of storing heavy weapons there to discourage Ukrainian fire; Russia denies it and has resisted calls to demilitarize the area.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian Telegram channels reported explosions at the Antonivsky bridge near Kherson, a southern city held by Russian forces. Ukrainian missiles have badly damaged the bridge in recent weeks, and Russian troops have been trying to repair it or to set up a pontoon crossing or barges to keep supplies moving to units on the right bank of the Dnipro River. Ukraine launched a counter-offensive last week aimed at the south, especially the Kherson region, which Russia seized early in the war.

What to watch now is whether gas deliveries stop altogether in December, as Berlin is preparing for, and whether the Zaporizhzhia plant keeps its remaining power line.