WASHINGTON — The United States is backing a rapid resumption of Russian natural gas exports to Europe through pipelines crossing Ukraine, as part of talks aimed at securing a ceasefire on energy targets before winter, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing US, European and Ukrainian officials. Reuters, which carried the Journal's account on Monday, said it could not immediately verify the report — and no government involved has publicly confirmed the plan.
Source: Reuters via Devdiscourse, Nov 2
According to the Journal, the idea was raised by President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during trips to Moscow and Kyiv in September. Under the proposal, Russian gas would be sold to Europe through a US intermediary — a structure the report says is intended to get around European restrictions on Russian energy — with proceeds handled in a way meant to keep Moscow from freely spending the revenue on its war.
The gas would move through the Soviet-era pipeline network that carries gas from the Urengoi fields in Siberia across Ukraine to Europe, the corridor that once carried the bulk of Russia's pipeline gas westward. OilPrice, reporting the same Journal account, noted that European gas storage is running below usual levels, with Germany at about 61 percent full against an 80 percent target as of November 1.
Source: OilPrice, Nov 2
Why it would be a sharp turn
Russian gas transit through Ukraine stopped at the start of 2025, when Kyiv did not renew the five-year transit deal between Gazprom and Naftogaz. The European Union has since legislated a phase-out of Russian gas purchases by the end of 2027, and EU officials have repeatedly said there will be no return to Russian energy even after the war. A US-backed restart would therefore need Ukrainian consent and a way through EU law — neither of which is in place.
The Journal reported that the plan was put on hold last month, then regained urgency after Ukraine resumed strikes on Russian refineries on Friday — three attacks on three major refineries in three days, according to the report — ahead of three-way peace negotiations between the US, Russia and Ukraine planned for mid-November in Abu Dhabi. A separate account of the Journal's reporting said the White House mechanism would send gas-sale proceeds to a special account in a third country.
Source: EuropeSays / UNN on WSJ report, Nov 2
What is solid
- Russian gas transit through Ukraine stopped in January 2025 after Kyiv did not renew the transit contract
- The EU has adopted a phase-out of Russian gas purchases by the end of 2027
- Reuters said it could not immediately verify the Wall Street Journal's account, and no government has publicly confirmed the proposal
What is only claimed
- Whether the US proposal exists in the form the Journal described, including a US intermediary selling the gas
- Whether Ukraine or EU states would ever consent to a restart of Russian gas flows
This is a reported proposal attributed to unnamed officials by The Wall Street Journal — not an announced US policy and not an agreed deal. Awaaz Punjab will update this story if Washington, Kyiv, Moscow or Brussels confirms or denies it on the record.
What happens next
The mid-November talks in Abu Dhabi are the first test: if Russia and Ukraine engage there on an energy ceasefire, the gas proposal gains a forum; if the EU restates its phase-out, the plan faces a legal wall in Europe regardless of what Washington and Moscow discuss. For energy markets — and for households across Europe facing another winter of high prices — even the discussion signals how central gas has again become to the diplomacy of this war.