station from viewers like you.
Thank you.
Amna: More than two months into
Russia's war in Ukraine,
Vladimir Putin trained his
sights on another front,
Europe's reliance on Russian
energy.
Moscow cut off supplies of
natural gas to Poland and
Bulgaria, two of the many
European countries that rely on
Russian fuel and gas.
The move comes a day after the
U.S. And European allies agreed
to step up military aid to
Ukraine as it holds off a
furious Russian offensive in the
south and east of the country.
And that's where Nick schifrin
again begins our coverage.
>> [Chanting]
Nick: In an occupied city,
Ukrainians are rubbed in protest
against the Russian appointed
mayor.
Please met with tear gas,
Ukrainian demonstrators run from
Russian soldiers.
Even against peaceful
protesters, Russia punishes
critics.
Russia today tried to punish
Poland and Bulgaria by cutting
off their natural gas supply.
For years Russia has been an
energy superpower, providing 40%
of Europe's natural gas through
pipelines that run through
Poland, Belarus, Ukraine,
Germany, and through the black
sea to Italy.
Historically half of Poland's
natural gas was imported from
Russia, but Warsaw and other
countries near Russia have been
preparing for this for years.
>> These countries have been
moving to insulate themselves
from Russian energy pressure or
blackmail.
Nick: Daniel is the vice
chairman of S&P global.
>> It is an effort by the
Russians to put pressure.
They still believe they can
disrupt Europe by playing the
energy card and the Russians are
saying that is not going to
Nick: Russia is building a
pipeline to import Norwegian
national gas and have built
receiving stations that can
accept North American liquefied
gas.
They called today's announcement
unsuccessful blackmail.
>> The Kremlin failed once again
in his attempt to sew divisions
among member states.
The era of Russian fossil fuel
in Europe is coming to an end.
Nick: The main holdout has been
Germany, Europe's largest
importer of Russian natural gas,
with a pipeline to Russia.
Some of Germany's oil refineries
are also owned by Russia and
until recently, more than 80% of
the gasoline in planes and cars
in Berlin has been Russian.
The Ukraine invasion lit a fire
under Germany's government.
>> Germany decided in a matter
of a few weeks as they watched
this horror show that Russian
energy is not a reliable
supplied, it is an unwanted
supply.
Even a few weeks ago, they said
maybe we can do it by the end of
the year.
Now the economics minister is
saying we could do it in days.
Nick: Russia still sells $250
billion of fossil fuels every
year, but Europe reducing
dependence on Russian energy is
the beginning of a long-term
shift.
>> Until the invasion, we would
have described Russia as an
energy superpower.
It stays as an energy superpower
and ability to use energy for
political clout are ending.
Nick: The war in Ukraine is not
ending and today Putin
reiterated his goals go beyond
the self-declared Russian
territory in eastern Ukraine.
>> [Translated] All the tasks of
the special military operation
will be fulfilled to guarantee
peace and security in a
historical perspective for the
residents of Russian crimea and
the entirety of our country.
Nick: Today Russia set its
sights on western rapids in
Ukraine and yesterday destroyed
a key bridge on Odessa's
outskirts.
In mariupol, today they showed
off their bloody handiwork.
There are also explosions inside
Russia.
An ammunition depot near the
border and two other sites
flared up in fireballs, but it's
unclear why.
Even as the war rages, the U.S.
And Russia managed to agreed to
a prisoner exchange.
Russian state TV showed former
us marine Trevor reed boarding a
plane back home.
He was sentenced to jail for
ripping a logo off a Russian
police officer's uniform.
He has been sick after being
exposed to tuberculosis in
prison.
He was traded for konstatin
yaroshenko, a Russian pilot
convicted in a U.S. Court of
drug trafficking, who landed
back in Russia today.
President Biden called his
release a difficult decision.
Senior administration officials
say the diplomacy with Russia
was restricted to the swap and
unrelated to the war.
This video today of a Ukrainian