The move, condemned by European leaders as “blackmail”, marked a dramatic escalation in the economic war of sanctions and sanctions that unfolded alongside battlefield battles. The tactic, which comes a day after the United States and other Western allies promised to rush more and heavier weapons to Ukraine, could eventually force targeted nations to gas and could deal another blow to economies suffering from price increase. At the same time, it could deprive Russia of much-needed revenue to fund its war effort. Poland has been an important gateway for arms deliveries to Ukraine and confirmed this week that it is sending tanks to the country. Just hours before Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom took action, Poland announced a new series of sanctions against the company and other Russian companies and oligarchs. Bulgaria, under a new liberal government that took office last autumn, has severed many of its old ties with Moscow and also backed sanctions against the Kremlin. It has also hosted Western fighter jets at a new NATO outpost on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. The gas cuts do not immediately put the two countries in serious trouble. Poland, in particular, has been working for many years to line up other suppliers, and the continent is heading in the summer, making gas less necessary for households. Also, deliveries of Russian gas to both Poland and Bulgaria were expected to end later this year. However, the Kremlin cuts and warns that other countries could then come shuddering through the 27-nation European Union. Germany, the continent’s largest economy, and Italy are among the largest consumers of Russian gas in Europe, although they have taken steps to reduce their dependence on Moscow. “It is not surprising that the Kremlin is using fossil fuels to try to blackmail us,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “Today, the Kremlin has once again failed in its attempt to sow discord among the Member States. “The era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe is coming to an end.” Gazprom said it had closed the two countries because they refused to pay in rubles, as President Vladimir Putin had demanded from “unfriendly” nations. The Kremlin has said other countries could cut ties if they do not agree to the payment arrangement. Most European countries have publicly denied Russia’s demand for rubles, but it is unclear how many have actually faced the decision so far. Greece’s next scheduled payment to Gazprom, for example, must be made on May 25, and the government must decide whether to comply. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told his country’s parliament that he believed Poland’s support for Ukraine – and the new sanctions imposed by Warsaw on Tuesday – were the real reasons behind the gas cut. Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov called the suspension a blackmail, adding: “We will not succumb to such a racket.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russia sees gas as a weapon of political blackmail and “sees a united Europe as its goal.” On the battlefield, fighting continued in the east of the country along a largely static front line of about 300 miles (480 km). Russia has claimed that its missiles hit a consignment of weapons that the United States and European nations had delivered to Ukraine. One person was killed and at least two others were injured when rockets hit a residential area in Kharkiv. Western officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence findings, said Russia had made slow progress in the Donbas region with “small profits”, including the occupation of villages and small towns south of Izyum and its environs. of Rubizhne. Serhiy Haidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, acknowledged that Russia had made little progress in advancing on Rubizhne through its almost constant bombardment, but that Ukrainian troops were counterattacking and retreating only when there was nothing else to defend. “It does not make sense to live on land that has been shot so often that every measure is known,” he said. Western officials say some Russian troops have been evacuated from the ruined southern port of Mariupol to other parts of Donbas. But some remain in Mariupol to fight Ukrainian forces at the Azovstal steel plant, the last stronghold in the city. About 1,000 civilians are said to be taking refuge there with about 2,000 Ukrainian defenders. “The situation is very difficult. “There are huge problems with water, food,” said Serhii Volynskyi, commander of the marine plant inside the plant, in a video message on Facebook. He said hundreds of fighters and civilians had been injured and needed medical help, including children, the elderly and the disabled. Just across the border in Russia, an ammunition depot in the Belgorod region burned down after several explosions were heard, the governor said. Explosions were also reported in Russia’s Kursk region near the border, and authorities in Russia’s Voronezh region said an air defense system had shot down a drone. Earlier this week, an oil storage facility in the Russian city of Bryansk was engulfed in flames. Ukraine’s presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, has hinted at the country’s involvement in the fires, saying in a Telegram post that “karma (is) a tough thing.” In other developments: The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, has said that the level of security at Europe’s largest Russian-occupied nuclear plant in Ukraine is like a “flashing red light” as his organization tries in vain to obtain it. access to Zaporizhia power station for repairs. Amid rising gas tensions, Moscow and Washington have staged a dramatic exchange of prisoners, exchanging a veteran Marine imprisoned in Moscow for a convicted Russian drug trafficker serving a long prison sentence in the United States. With the help of Western weapons, Ukrainian forces managed to prevent the attempt of Russian forces to invade Kyiv. Moscow now says it is focusing on occupying Donbass, Ukraine’s predominantly Russian-speaking industrial heartland. A provocative Putin has vowed that Russia will achieve its military goals, telling parliament: “All the tasks of the special military operation we are conducting in Donbas and Ukraine, which began on February 24, will be fulfilled unconditionally.” Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels, said Russia’s goal in stopping the flow of gas was to “divide and rule” – to pit European countries against each other as they seek energy. While Poland receives about 45% of its gas from Russia, it relies heavily on coal and said it was well prepared for the shutdown. It has plenty of gas in storage and will soon benefit from two pipelines being put into operation, said Rystad Energy analyst Emily McClain. Bulgaria receives more than 90% of its natural gas from Russia, but could increase imports from Azerbaijan, and the pipeline connection to Greece will be completed later this year. Dobrin Todorov, a resident of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, said the suspension was not a big problem. “Ultimately, the choice between freedom and dignity or gas, the answer is clear, in favor of freedom and dignity,” Todorov said, adding that the lack of gas “could not be compared to the hardships and trials it suffers.” the Ukrainian people at the moment. “ Europe is not without its own leverage, as it pays about $ 400 million a day in Russia for gas, money that Putin would lose in a complete shutdown. Russia could, in theory, sell oil elsewhere – in India and China, for example. However, it does not have the necessary pipelines in some cases and has only a limited capacity to export natural gas by ship. “Russia’s move today is basically a move where Russia is hurting itself,” von der Leyen said.

Gambrell reported from Lviv, Ukraine and Gera from Warsaw, Poland. Associated Press reporters Jill Lawless in London, Yuras Karmanau in Lviv, David Keyton in Kyiv, Oleksandr Stashevskyi in Chernobyl, Mstyslav Chernov in Kharkov and AP staff around the world contributed to this report.

Follow the AP coverage of the war in Ukraine: