Why Did Ukraine Halt the Flow of Russia’s Natural Gas to Europe? NYT | Top Stories By: Marc Santora, Andrew Higgins and Stanley Reed 2 January 2025 at 03:38 And why didn’t it cut off Russia’s natural gas earlier? © Sergei Karpukhin/ReutersThe Compressor and distribution station of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod gas pipeline, in the Kursk region of Russia.