Ukraine cuts flow at Russian gas hub, underlining risk to supply

Ukraine stopped the flow of Russian natural gas through one of the hubs that feed Western European homes and industry on Wednesday, while a Kremlin-installed official in a southern region seized by Russian troops said the area will ask Moscow to annex it.Russian troops continued to pound the steel plant that is the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol, its defenders said.In his nightly address Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested Ukraine's military is gradually pushing Russian troops away from Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city and a key to Russia’s offensive in the Donbas, the eastern industrial region that the Kremlin has said is its main objective.Ukraine is also targeting Russian air defenses and resupply vessels on Snake Island in the Black Sea in an effort to disrupt Moscow’s efforts to expand its control over the coastline, according to the British Ministry of Defense.

The ministry said Russian resupply vessels have minimum protection since the Russian Navy retreated to Crimea following the sinking of the flagship of its Black Sea fleet.Separately, Ukraine said it shot down a cruise missile targeting the Black Sea port city of Odesa on Wednesday.