Russia's natural gas started flowing towards freezing Europe yesterday after the EU brokered a deal to end a row between Russia and Ukraine that has raised concern about Europe's energy security.
With factories closed and hundreds of thousands of homes without heating in some of the worst-hit central and eastern European areas, supplies from Russia could still take several days to get back to normal as only small quantities of gas were being pumped initially.
EU officials say it could take three days for supplies to return to normal.
Russian energy giant Gazprom also warned it would turn off the taps again if it caught Ukraine siphoning off gas an allegation at the core of a transit dispute that led Russia to halt supplies completely last Wednesday.
''They have started. The gas has already reached Ukraine,'' a Gazprom spokesman said, after an order from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to restart gas supplies for Europe at 6pm yesterday, Canberra time.
The European Union arranged a deal to end the bitter dispute by deploying teams of international monitors at gas measuring stations in Russia and Ukraine to verify the uninterrupted flow of gas from Russia to Europe.
''The commission welcomes the announcement from Russia that the gas flow is back in the pipes,'' an EU spokesman said.
Hundreds of thousands of people across Europe lost gas supplies in the crisis, affecting gas-powered central heating systems.
Factories and schools were closed down as some countries declared energy emergencies. AFP