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The objective of the attack has been achieved, the Russian Defense Ministry has said
The Russian military has carried out a combined strike against Ukraine’s gas and energy infrastructure, which feeds the operations of Kiev’s military-industrial complex, Moscow’s Defense Ministry has said.
The attack, which happened early on Wednesday, involved “high-precision weapons” and drones, the ministry said in a statement.
“The objective of the strike had been achieved. All of the designated facilities were hit,” the statement read.
According to accounts on social media, explosions were heard in Ukraine’s Khmelnitsky, Vinnitsa, Ivano-Frankovsk, Lviv and Kharkov regions.
The country’s state-run energy company, Ukrenergo, said in a statement that due to “the massive missile attack,” emergency power outages occurred in Kharkov, Sumy, Poltava and Dnepropetrovsk as well as in some other areas.
“We remind you that the Ukrainian power system is currently continuing to recover after thirteen massive missile and drone attacks by the Russians over the past year,” Ukrenergo stressed.
Russian State Duma Defense Committee chairman Andrey Kartapolov told Vy Slushali Mayak Telegram channel on Wednesday that “one should not be surprised” that Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is being targeted after Kiev tried to destroy a TurkStream gas pipeline facility inside Russia.
On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukraine had launched an unsuccessful attack with nine kamikaze drones on a gas compressor station near the village of Gaikodzor in Russia’s Krasnodar Region. The site is crucial for the operation of TurkStream, which delivers Russian natural gas to Türkiye and several European nations via the Black Sea.
“The gas transportation system of Ukraine is a primary target... also because the gas stolen from Russia – which they [the Kiev authorities] stored and then refused to pass on to those for whom it was intended - is being stored there,” Kartapolov explained.
“The thieves should not profit from our property and they will not do so,” the member of parliament stressed.
The flow of Russian gas to European customers via Ukraine stopped on January 1 after Kiev refused to prolong a transit deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Moscow added Ukrainian power plants to the list of legitimate military targets in early 2024 in response to the intensification of Kiev’s drone incursions into Russian territory, mainly targeting energy infrastructure, but also hitting residential areas. Most of Ukraine’s non-nuclear generation capacity has been disabled or destroyed in strikes since then.
