The United States is also working with Germany to make sure that "we are making Ukraine whole" for the loss of transit fees and to make sure "Russia cannot use gas as a coercive tool when it comes to Ukraine or anyone else." Maas, in turn, assured that the German side had warned the Kremlin that the completion of the Nord Stream 2 construction is tied to the continued Russian gas transit through the territory of Ukraine. The question is, didn't the Ukrainian side that signed the contract understand that this was a frank demonstration by Russia of its true intentions – to completely abandon gas transit via Ukraine from 2024?