Freezing again

Hungary, Poland and Romania said Russian gas deliveries via pipelines in Ukraine began falling on Friday. Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine on Thursday after talks on a deal for this year collapsed. Both sides have guaranteed supplies to the rest of Europe, which relies on Russian gas via Ukrainian pipelines to meet 20 per cent of its demand. Russia and Ukraine vied for European support on Friday as the European Union struggled vainly to avoid intervening in their gas dispute as it began to affect member states, FT reports. 

Bohdan Sokolovsky, an energy adviser to Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's president, said the European Commission had shown "understanding" during talks. However, Oleksandr Hudyma, energy adviser to Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukrainian prime minister, said unwillingness to confront Russia was "no surprise. Ukraine does not have any misconceptions about the support it would get from [the] European Union, which showed itself during the Georgian conflict."