"This week, Russia’s leadership launched a new series of energy blackmail of Europeans," Zelensky said in a video message late on Wednesday.
"The decision to cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria is another argument in favor of the fact that no one in Europe can hope to maintain any normal economic cooperation with Russia," he added in his daily address, as cited by the ukrinform.net website.
Zelensky said: "Russia considers not only gas but any trade as a weapon. It is just waiting for the moment when one or another trade area can be used. To blackmail Europeans politically. Or to strengthen Russia’s military machine, which sees a united Europe as a target."
European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that Russian energy firm Gazprom's decision to stop delivering gas to Poland and Bulgaria was "yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail."
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters a day earlier that his country had sufficient reserves and alternative supply routes after Russia said it was suspending gas supplies to Poland under a long-term contract.
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Source: PAP, ukrinform.net