Natural gas prices in Europe hit their highest levels of the year this week after Ukrainian forces took control of the last remaining transit hub for Russian gas to Europe.

According to Dutch banking group ING, prices rose for at least three days in a row, exceeding the 40 euro ($43.71) per megawatt hour mark for the first time since December 4, 2023.

The increase in gas supplies is linked to Ukraine’s surprise incursion into the southwestern Russian region of Kursk on Tuesday and the reported seizure of a gas metering station in the town of Sudzha, from where Russian gas flows to Europe via Ukraine.

Despite the border conflicts, both the Ukrainian gas transit operator and the Russian gas company Gazprom assured that energy supplies through Ukraine, which expire at the end of 2024, would continue.

Gazprom reported an increase in gas supplies to Europe from 37.3 million cubic meters on Thursday to 38.5 million cubic meters on Friday.

Following this announcement, Dutch wholesale gas prices fell below 40 euros and analysts predicted only a limited impact on European gas supplies during the winter.

“European storage facilities are more than 86 percent full, significantly more than the five-year average of 78 percent. We continue to expect storage facilities to be almost 100 percent full before winter,” ING said.

Fitch Ratings noted that this storage would cover almost half of European gas consumption from October 2024 to March 2025, adding that it “expects any price impact resulting from Ukraine’s advance into the Kursk region to be short-lived.”

However, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said that other analysts expected European gas prices to continue to rise.