(KYIV, UKRAINE) – The administration of US President Donald Trump is proposing that Ukraine restore the transit of Russian gas to Europe as part of a peace agreement, a step that would reverse decades of American energy policy and hand Kyiv back roughly $1 billion a year in transit revenue it gave up when the flow stopped in January 2025.
Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff raised the idea during talks with Ukrainian and European officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, in Kyiv last month, The New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the negotiations.
The Americans argue that to encourage Russia to end the war, Ukraine should consider restoring the operation of the pipelines that previously carried Russian natural gas to Europe, according to the report.
The proposal would turn decades of American energy policy on its head. European officials who took part in the negotiations reacted negatively, the newspaper said, because the move would undo years of effort by the European Union, supported by Washington, to rid itself of Russian gas.
Trump’s representatives nonetheless view Russian gas exports as a potential part of a peace settlement. They point to the revenue Ukraine would receive and to what they consider the inevitable wish of European voters for cheaper energy.
Ukraine halted the transit of Russian gas in January 2025 and lost approximately $1 billion annually in transit revenue. At the National Bank of Ukraine rate of UAH 44.8871 ($1) for 18th October, that loss equates to roughly UAH 44.9 billion a year.
The European Union has promised to abandon Russian gas completely by next year. Last year Russia’s share of EU gas imports was 13%, compared with 45% in 2021.
Separately, senior Russian and US officials, including US Special Envoy Jared Kushner, held talks on involving an American investor in the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which supplied gas to Germany before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Trump’s turn toward Russia has stirred discontent among Americans, according to media reports.
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