Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in his nightly video address on July 25, accused Moscow of using restrictions in gas supply to inflict what he called terror on Europe and urged the EU to agree to tougher sanctions against Russia.

“All this is done by Russia on purpose to make it as difficult as possible for Europeans to prepare for winter. And this is an open gas war that Russia is waging against a united Europe,” he said.

“And they do not care what will happen to the people, how they will suffer, from hunger due to the blocking of ports, or from winter cold and poverty. Or from occupation. These are just different forms of terror,” he added.

Russia dealt a new blow to European countries over their support for Ukraine on July 25, saying it would further cut gas supplies through its single biggest gas link to Germany. The war following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February is having economic impacts far beyond the battlefields.

Moscow needed its “gas blackmail of Europe” to worsen the lives of all Europeans, and this represented “an incentive for the EU’s eighth sanctions package to be significantly stronger,” he said.

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