Russia launches largest strike on Ukraine’s gas infrastructure since start of full-scale war, inflicting ‘critical’ damage

On Thursday night, Russian forces carried out their biggest strike on Ukraine’s gas production infrastructure since the start of the full-scale invasion, according to a statement from the state-owned energy company Naftogaz.

The company said 35 missiles — including ballistic ones — and 60 drones were launched at facilities in Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Poltava regions. Only some were shot down.

Naftogaz CEO Serhiy Koretsky said a significant number of facilities were damaged in the attack, with some of the destruction “critical.” He stressed that the strike had no military purpose.

“This is deliberate terror against civilian infrastructure that produces and processes the gas people need for everyday life. […] It is yet another display of Russian cruelty, aimed solely at disrupting the heating season and depriving Ukrainians of the ability to heat their homes in winter,” he said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its forces had launched a massive overnight strike “on enterprises of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and on gas and energy facilities that supported their operations.”

In the Poltava region, several gas production sites were forced to halt operations as a result of the attack. In the Sumy region, two districts were partially left without power.

In early September, during a meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had “long endured” Ukrainian strikes on its own energy infrastructure. “After that, we began responding. And we are responding, let’s say, seriously,” Putin said.