Moscow accused of bombing own gas infrastructure to undermine ceasefire deal
Key gas pumping station in border region rocked by major explosion
Moscow has been accused of bombing its own gas infrastructure in order to sabotage an energy ceasefire deal with Ukraine.
Ukraine’s general staff has denied that its forces struck a key gas pumping station in Sudzha, and instead said it had been “repeatedly shelled by the Russians themselves”.
The army accused Russia of seeking to pin the blame on Ukraine with “groundless” accusations its military was involved – all to undermine any truce and longer peace deal currently being negotiated by Donald Trump and the US.
“The Russian federation is intensifying its discrediting campaign against Ukraine,” it said.
“In particular, the enemy has accused the Ukrainian defence forces of shelling the Sudzha gas metering station. These accusations are groundless. On the contrary, the mentioned station has been repeatedly shelled by the Russians themselves.”
The military added: “Russians continue to create numerous fakes and seek to mislead the international community. We urge you to trust only official sources, verify information and do not succumb to manipulation.”
The station has been a critical hub for Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukraine, before Kyiv refused to extend the agreement in January this year.
Once it passed through the station, it entered Ukraine’s pipeline system into Slovakia, before going onto the Czech Republic and Austria.
In 2023, almost half of all Russian gas exports to Europe were pumped through the station.
Russia accused Ukraine of being behind the attack, saying the station had been under the control of Kyiv’s forces “until now”, and that they had used it as a logistics base.
“The blowing up of an important Russian energy facility by Ukrainian army units retreating from the Kursk region is a deliberate provocation by the Kyiv regime,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
“[This] should be viewed as part of a series of recent strikes against the energy infrastructure of the Russian Federation aimed at discrediting the peace initiatives of the president of the United States.”
The region has been the focus of fierce fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in recent weeks, with Moscow’s troops recapturing much of the region held by Kyiv since August last year.
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Moscow’s forces have said in recent days that they have taken control of Sudzha, the largest town Kyiv’s forces had seized. But Kyiv claims it still holds positions beyond the town and would keep fighting as long as possible.
Mr Putin, who visited Kursk for the first time since Ukraine’s incursion last week, has threatened that the Ukrainian soldiers he claims are surrounded will face death unless they surrender.
The attack comes after Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle on Wednesday to a limited ceasefire proposed by the US.
Donald Trump spoke with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine this week, but all sides appeared to hold different views about what the deal covered.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the agreement reached between Mr Trump and Mr Putin referred to energy facilities, adding that the Russian military is fulfilling Mr Putin’s order to halt such attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days.
“The Russian military are currently refraining from strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in accordance with the agreement reached between Russia and the United States,” Mr Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
In Ukraine, a mass drone attack launched by Russia on Odesa overnight caused fires in three different parts of the city.
Mr Zelensky called for more “joint pressure” on Russia following the attacks, which injured three people.
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