Ukraine remained a major route for Russian gas to Europe, even after President Vladimir Putin ordered the February 24 invasion. Growing Western sanctions aim to ban or phase out the use of Russian energy.
Blaming Moscow for the move, the Ukrainian gas operator said it would redirect gas from the Sokhranivka transit point, which is in an area occupied by Russian forces, to another located in an area controlled by the Ukraine.
Since Russia was forced to abandon an assault on the capital kyiv in late March, its main force has been trying to encircle Ukrainian troops in the eastern region of Donbas, using the town of Izyum near Kharkiv in the north. -east of the country, as a base.
So far, Ukrainian troops have mostly withstood assaults from three directions, and senior US intelligence officials say the war is now at an impasse.
Putin appears to be preparing for a long conflict, and a Russian victory in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine may not end the war, Washington Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said on Tuesday.
But the counterattack near Kharkiv could signal a new phase, with Ukraine now going on the offensive with supply lines to Russia now potentially vulnerable.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian successes were gradually pushing Russian forces out of Kharkiv, which has been bombarded since the start of the war.
“But I also want to urge all of our people … not to spread excessive emotions. We must not create an atmosphere of excessive moral pressure, where victories are expected every week and even every day,” Zelenskiy said in a video speech.
In the villages of Staryi Saltiv and Vilkhivka near Kharkiv, Ukrainian soldiers collected the bodies of Russian soldiers killed in the fighting, according to Reuters witnesses.
Ukrainian border guards reported that Russian forces were shelling the regions of Sumy and Chernihiv, close to the Russian border.
“Enemy aircraft launched unguided missiles twice at the border areas of Sumy. There were also two cases of mortar fire in the Chernihiv region,” they said on their Telegram channel.
In the south, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said they had hit nine enemy targets, with the loss of 79 soldiers and 12 pieces of equipment, including armored vehicles and howitzers.
Russian fire was concentrated in the Mykolaiv area where private homes were damaged as well as farms and power lines in a town, it added.
On Tuesday, Russian forces pounded the steel mill Azovstal Mariupol again, attempting to seize the last stronghold of Ukrainian resistance in the ruined city where, according to Ukraine, tens of thousands of people have died within two months of Russian headquarters.
Reuters was unable to independently verify reports of the fighting.
Dozens of civilians have been evacuated from the steel plant in recent days, but an aide to the mayor of Mariupol, Petro Andryushchenko, said at least 100 remained inside.
The number of Ukrainians who have fled their country is approaching 6 million, according to the United Nations, which says the refugee crisis is growing the fastest since World War II.
Russia denies targeting civilians and rejects Ukrainian and Western allegations of war crimes.