(Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could be decisive in the outcome of the 34-month-old war with Russia and help stop Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

With soaring inflation and the ruble dropping to one of its lowest levels against the dollar since President Vladimir Putin launched his war in Ukraine, this year Russians will have to pay more for the dish, which is traditionally served alongside caviar and tangerines, before the New Year is toasted in.

Ukraine hailed the end of the gas transit deal amid Russia's invasion. But Russia said European living standards will suffer.

A Ukrainian pipeline supplying Russian natural gas to Europe was closed Wednesday after Ukraine declined to renew the deal keeping it open.

Russia ceased sending natural gas to Europe through pipelines in Ukraine Wednesday, after Kyiv refused to renew a prewar transit contract with Russia's state-owned Gazprom. The closure of the Soviet-era pipelines effectively ends "decades of Moscow's dominance over Europe's energy markets,