One of the last thoroughfares sending Russian gas to Europe could be tanked by the end of next year, as Ukraine’s contract with state-owned Russian energy company Gazprom expires.

Financial Times breaks the news on Thursday following an interview with Ukrainian energy minister German Galushchenko.

The passage through Ukraine carries 5% of Europe’s gas imports.

And there’s a slight chance of Ukraine and Moscow agreeing to renew the five-year transit contract, originally brokered in 2019.

”I can tell you that we are preparing our system for a cut in supplies,” he says to Financial Times.

The minister can’t imagine that Ukraine could have bilateral negotiations with Russia after last year’s invasion.

The Kremlin’s decision to slash gas deliveries to Europe last year triggered an energy crisis which stoked inflation and increased general living costs across Europe.

Several gas routes were scuttled while the one flowing through Ukraine kept supplying gas for Europe, writes Financial Times.

Data from energy consultancy ICIS shows that gas through Ukraine made up half of Austria’s gas imports in May. In Slovakia, the route through Ukraine amounted to a stunning 95% of May imports.

The interview marks the first time that Ukraine acknowledges that the Gazprom contract is unlikely renewed.

Without the route through Ukraine, TurkStream would be the only pipeline carrying gas from Russia to Europe. The pipeline supplies countries in the south eastern region with gas and merely amounted to shy of 3% of Europe’s May gas imports.

In 2019, an EU delegation brokered a deal between Ukraine and Russia on the pipeline.

Galushchenko says that he expects European policymakers to try to renegotiate the terms of a new contract. Analysts project it unlikely due to the diplomatic tensions towards Russia.