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How exactly is Ukraine getting their gas since the Russian invasion?

I've heard news reports that Ukraine is buying Russian gas from Germany after Germany buys it from Russia and pipes it through Ukraine to the West and then back again (reverse flow). This is consistent with Wikipedia, but Wikipedia is not always up to date, and it sounds strange considering how the war is developing.

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  • I guess Russia couldn't do much about it if Ukraine just stole their share of the gas that runs trough it, since if Russia stopped or reduced the gas flow, they'd cut their own flesh. They need to be happy that Europe still buys that gas.
    – PMF
    Apr 20, 2022 at 5:58
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    @PMF, there hasn't been any suggestion of gas theft. More a surprise that Ukraine would ask the West not to buy Russian gas, and at the same time earns transit fees by transporting Russian gas to the West. They could unilaterally break the transit contracts.
    – o.m.
    Apr 20, 2022 at 10:23
  • @o.m. I suppose if the EU is going to pay billions of dollars to warmongering mass murderers, the victims of said murder might as well try to take their cut.
    – user253751
    Apr 20, 2022 at 10:32
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    @o.m. despite everything EU countries want/need Russian gas. Certainly in the current situation Ukraine could stop gas transport through its territory, but doing so would harm itself in multiple ways: loss of revenue, loss of gas for itself, and creating big problems to its allies.
    – SJuan76
    Apr 20, 2022 at 15:47
  • @SJuan76, you have a point, but then why ask insistently about a purchasing stop?
    – o.m.
    Apr 20, 2022 at 16:59

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Slightly outdated, but probably still accurate: Ukraine gets gas from its own reserves, but also imports some gas from Russia via Europe using reverse flow pipelines.

Boldface mine:

Historically, Ukraine has received the majority of its natural gas imports from Russia. However, following Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine halted direct natural gas imports from Russia and replaced those imports with natural gas from European countries. Much of the natural gas imported from Europe, however, originates in Russia and travels into Ukraine through reverse flows from central and eastern European countries.

U.S. Energy Information Administration. Last Updated: August 2021: https://www.eia.gov/international/analysis/country/UKR

What is reverse flow? See below:

Slovakia has started testing a reverse gas flow that aims to help supply neighboring Ukraine with badly needed natural gas.

Slovak company Eustream confirmed on August 16 that a compressor station near the town of Velke Kapushany started pumping gas into the Uzhgorod-Voyany pipeline earlier in the day.

Work recently finished on that pipeline so that it could carry gas eastward instead of westward.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Slovakia Tests Reverse Gas Flow To Ukraine. August 16, 2014. https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-slovakia-reverse-flow/26534011.html

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