Russia accused Ukraine on Friday of attacking its energy facilities despite a moratorium on such strikes, saying a key piece of gas infrastructure in the town of Sudzha had been practically destroyed.
A Ukrainian official said it was Russia that attacked the gas transit point in Sudzha. Reuters could not independently confirm which side was responsible.
The United States announced separate agreements with Ukraine and Russia on Tuesday to pause their strikes in the Black Sea and against each other’s energy targets – potential stepping stones that Washington hopes will lead to a full ceasefire and peace talks to bring a definitive end to the three-year war.
But each side has accused the other of breaking the energy truce, underscoring the fragility of the U.S.-brokered agreements.
Sudzha, in Russia’s western region of Kursk, is the site of a gas metering station at the transit point where Russia pumped gas by pipeline across Ukraine and into Europe until the end of last year.
Flows stopped on January 1 after Ukraine declined to renew the deal because of the war. Pipeline infrastructure for possible Russian gas exports via Ukraine to Europe still remains in place, including at other locations, but the Sudzha facility would need to be rebuilt in order for gas to be pumped again there at any point in the future.
“On March 28, at about 10:20, the Kyiv regime launched a double attack, using, according to preliminary information, HIMARS missiles at the Sudzha gas metering station, which resulted in a major fire, and the energy facility was virtually destroyed,” the Russian defence ministry said.
A Ukrainian national security official wrote on Telegram: “Russia has again attacked the ‘Sudzha’ gas transmission system (gas metering station) in Kursk region, which it does not control.”
Russia had previously accused Ukraine of attacking the same facility on March 21, which Kyiv also denied.
Sudzha was the largest settlement in a piece of Russian territory which Ukraine seized last August in a shock incursion. Since then, Russia has regained most of that area.
The Russian defence ministry said Ukraine also attacked power facilities in Belgorod, causing outages there, and tried to hit an oil refinery in the Saratov region. Reuters could not immediately confirm its account.
The Rosneft-owned Saratov refinery has been hit previously by Ukrainian drone attacks.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)