Russia has struck a gas infrastructure in the village of Novosilskoe, Odessa region, undermining Ukraine's preparations for the winter heating season. This was stated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, quoted by "Reuters", reports News.bg.
According to Zelensky, the attack was aimed at the Orlovka interconnector, located near the border with Romania. It is through this facility that Ukraine receives natural gas via the Trans-Balkan route.
“This is a deliberate attack on our preparations for the heating season - absolutely cynical, like any Russian attack on the energy sector“, Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel.
“Reuters“ notes that it cannot independently confirm the information about the attack, and Russia has not yet commented on the case.
Earlier, the governor of the Odessa region also reported an attack on gas infrastructure, including a main gas pipeline. According to him, work is currently underway to pump gas from the pipeline, but there is no official data on whether the interconnector was damaged or whether the gas supply will be interrupted.
The Ukrainian gas operator reported that 0.4 million cubic meters of gas were planned to be pumped through Orlovka.
Last month, Ukraine tested the supply of Azerbaijani gas for the first time via the Trans-Balkan route and announced plans to expand imports from SOCAR, the Azerbaijani energy company. The Trans-Balkan route allows gas to be delivered from Greece via Bulgaria and Romania to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the governor of Zaporizhia region, Ivan Fyodorov, reported new Russian strikes in the region, killing two people and wounding ten, including four children.
According to him, Russian forces have carried out 567 attacks in the past 24 hours against 16 settlements in the region. In the city of Zaporizhia alone, at least nine buildings were damaged in strikes early this morning.