VIENNA (Reuters) – Heavy fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces near a pipeline through which Russia supplies gas to landlocked Austria has not led to any disruptions in supplies, network operator Gas Connect Austria told Reuters on Tuesday.

“We are not aware of any pressure fluctuations, all nominations are proceeding as planned and there are no indications of irregularities,” says Gas Connect Austria spokesman Armin Teichert.

The Russian Gazprom group also announced on Tuesday that it would continue to pump gas into Ukraine via Sudzha, just across the Ukrainian border.

It was unclear which side controlled the Russian town of Sudzha, through which Russia pumps gas from Western Siberia through Ukraine and on to Slovakia and other European Union countries.

The European Union has drastically reduced its dependence on Russian gas after the start of the Ukraine war in 2022. Austria is thus the EU country most dependent on Russian supplies.

In a statement on August 3, Austria’s energy regulator E-Control said that even if Russian gas supplies were halted, the country would have enough gas reserves to cope with the European winter and its peak demand.

The Austrian gas storage facilities have a capacity of around 88.8 terawatt hours and are therefore over 88 percent full, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.

(Reporting by Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich, text by Miranda Murray and Nina Chestney, editing by Madeline Chambers and Barbara Lewis)