A major natural gas pipeline supplying Russian energy to Europe ran dry Wednesday after Ukraine stopped Moscow’s six-decade supply in the hopes of hurting its invader financially.The planned move marks the end of an era in which many European countries kept warm using gas pumped by Russia — which was in turn accused of using this dependency to blackmail its Western neighbors after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022,

The end of the deal has also plunged the breakaway Moldovan region into an energy crisis on Jan 1. Read more at straitstimes.com.

The Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline was built in the Soviet era to carry Siberian gas to European markets. It became the main conduit to Ukraine’s border with Slovakia from Siberia, passing through the town of Sudzha — which is now under the control of Ukrainian military forces — in Russia’s Kursk region.