Zelensky warns Europe to brace for winter energy crisis

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told Europeans to expect a difficult winter as the Russian assault on his country leads to cuts in oil and gas exports by Moscow, as the continent’s leaders worked on Sunday to ease the impact of high energy prices.Zelensky spoke 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 Kyiv with diplomatic and military support have accused Russia of weaponising 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.Separately, the US embassy in Moscow said John Sullivan, the ambassador since his appointment by former president Donald Trump in 2019, had left his post and was retiring from the diplomatic service. A State Department official said Sullivan had served a typical tour length.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 yesterday his government had been planning for a total halt in gas deliveries in December, promising measures to lower prices and tie social benefits to inflation.“Russia is no longer a reliable energy partner,” Scholz told a news conference in Berlin.Responding to that comment, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev accused Germany of being “an unfriendly country” and an enemy of Russia. “In other words, it has declared a hybrid war on Russia,” he said.Yesterday, Finland and Sweden announced plans to offer billions of dollars to power companies to avert the threat of insolvency amid the crisis.Russian authorities said yesterday the situation around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine was calm yesterday, after UN inspectors said on Saturday it had against lost external power.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 its six reactors remained in operation, it said.