Russia hits Ukraine’s natural gas facilities in biggest attack of war

Kyiv: Russia launched its biggest attack of the war overnight against natural gas facilities run by Ukraine’s state-owned Naftogaz Group, officials said on Friday.

Russia fired a total of 381 drones and 35 missiles at Ukraine, according to Ukraine’s air force.

In what officials were an attempt to wreck the Ukrainian power grid ahead of winter and wear down public appetite for the 3-year-old conflict.

“This is deliberate terror against civilian facilities that provide gas extraction and processing for the

normal life of people,” Serhii Koretskyi, chief executive of Ukraine’s state-owned gas company Naftogaz, said in a statement.

“It has no military purpose. This is yet another act of Russian malice aimed solely at disrupting the heating season and depriving Ukrainians of warmth in winter.”

Russia aimed 35 missiles, many of them ballistic, and 60 drones at Naftogaz’s gas extraction and processing facilities in the northeastern Kharkiv and central Poltava regions, some of which sustained critical damage, Koretskyi said.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces launched a mass strike using drones and guided weapons against

Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and the gas and energy infrastructure that supports it. “All designated targets were hit,” it

said in a statement.

As winter has approached each year since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbour, Russian forces have blasted

Ukraine’s power grid. Ukraine says it is an attempt to weaponise winter by denying civilians heat, light and running water.

Russia has recently escalated its strikes on the power grid, as well as on Ukraine’s rail network, which is essential for military transport.