Russia and Ukraine Trade Blame for Attack on Gas Pumping Station in Kursk Region - The Moscow Times

Russia and Ukraine on Friday accused each other of shelling a gas pumping station in the southwestern Kursk region overnight, days after the two warring sides agreed to pause attacks on energy infrastructure.

Earlier, the Ukrainian military and Russian pro-war bloggers reported a strike on the nonfunctioning Sudzha gas pumping and metering station, with images showing a huge fire lighting up the night sky.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces dismissed Russian military bloggers' claims that it was responsible for the attack, calling it part of a "campaign to discredit Ukraine."

"Today, the enemy has ramped up its planned destructive information influence with another provocation -- it fired artillery at this facility [in Sudzha]," the General Staff claimed in a statement.

"The [Sudzha] station was repeatedly shelled by the Russians themselves," it added, citing what it said were similar incidents last summer.

Later on Friday, Russia's Defense Ministry claimed that retreating Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region attacked the Sudzha gas pumping station, calling it a "deliberate provocation... aimed at undermining the peace initiatives of the U.S. President."

After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia continued transporting natural gas to Europe through the Sudzha hub until Kyiv declined to extend a transit deal at the start of 2025.

The town of Sudzha, home to around 5,000 people, was the largest Russian settlement to be seized by Ukrainian forces during a surprise cross-border incursion last August. Russia said it had regained full control of Sudzha last week.

The reported strike on the Sudzha gas station came after Russia and Ukraine agreed to a 30-day pause in attacks on energy infrastructure. Russia's Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused Kyiv of violating the ceasefire with an attack on an oil depot in the southern Krasnodar region.

Later on Friday, the Kremlin appeared to suggest that the attack could lead to a disintegration of the ceasefire deal.

"This information more than clearly shows how much faith one can have in the word of Zelensky and his team," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

However, he said Russia would continue to adhere to the pause in attacks on energy sites in Ukraine.

"The order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief is in effect, and the Russian Armed Forces are currently refraining from striking Ukraine's energy infrastructure in accordance with the agreement that was reached between the United States and Russia."

Russian law enforcement authorities later announced that they launched a criminal investigation into the gas pumping station attack, which they are treating as an act of terrorism.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/03/21/russia-and-ukraine-trade-blame-for-at tack-on-gas-pumping-station-in-kursk-region-a88433

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* Origin: Ukraine News from various sources (2:263/1)