Russia carried out its “biggest attack yet” on Ukrainian gas facilities on Friday, Ukraine’s largest national oil and gas company claimed.
Naftogaz said Russian forces had launched the largest strike on its gas production facilities since the start of the invasion in 2022, sustaining “critical” damage.
“Facilities in Kharkiv and Poltava regions were hit with 35 missiles, many of them ballistic, along with 60 drones. Some were successfully intercepted. Unfortunately, not all,” they said in a statement.
Sergii Koretskyi, Chief Executive Officer, said there was “no military purpose or rationale” to the attacks. Emergency teams were working on site.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday that its forces had carried out massive overnight strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial facilities and on gas and energy infrastructure.
The strikes came just two days after Koretskyi announced Naftogaz would import approximately 500 million cubic meters of LNG from the United States via European countries.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin also warned Donald Trump on Thursday that the U.S. risked “a new stage of escalation” if Washington provides Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles.
Russia’s attack on gas had “no military purpose or rationale” – CEO
Sergii Koretskyi, Chief Executive Officer of Naftogaz, said that there was “no military purpose or rationale” to the major reported strike on Ukrainian gas facilities.
“This was a deliberate act of terror against civilian facilities that provide gas extraction and processing essential for the normal life of people,” he said on Friday.
“There was no military purpose or rationale. It was yet another display of Russian malice, aimed solely at disrupting the heating season and depriving Ukrainians of the ability to heat their homes this winter.
“As a result of this attack, a significant portion of our facilities has been damaged. Some of the destruction is critical.”
Russia launched 381 drones overnight: Ukraine’s air force
Russia launched 381 drones and 35 missiles at targets overnight, Ukraine’s air force said on Friday.
It said that they were targeting energy infrastructure.
Russia ‘carries out major strikes on Ukrainian gas’
Russia was reported to have carried out a major attack on key Ukrainian gas production sites on Friday.
Naftogaz’s CEO said that a strike had hit Ukraine’s main gas production sites in Poltava, Kharkiv region.
The Russian defence ministry said that Russian forces carried out a massive strike on Ukrainian military-industrial enterprises and gas and energy infrastructure facilities, as reported by Interfax.
Russia has lost over 1,100,000 troops since invasion, Ukraine claims
Russia has lost around 1,113,430 troops since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces assessed in a report published on Friday.
On top of casualties, they claimed, Russia has lost 11,225 tanks, 23,297 armoured fighting vehicles, 33,413 artillery systems and 427 planes, among other equipment.
Washington weighs $51mn in arms sales to Ukraine: Kyiv Post
The Trump administration this week formally notified congress of a $51mn arms sale to Ukraine and its allies, two sources told the Kyiv Post.
An official told the outlet the step ‘signals a sustained US commitment to supplying Kyiv’, despite concern that a government shut down could disrupt the flow of aid to Europe.
One of the reported shipments was said to be a $1mn package for firearms, parts, and components for Ukraine.
The other was described as a wider $50mn package ‘in defense articles, including technical data and defense services’ for Ukraine, the UK and Belgium, the outlet reported.
Ukraine strikes Russian chemical plant 1,700km from frontlines
Ukrainian drones struck a Russian chemical plant some 1,700 kilometres from the frontlines overnight, according to local officials.
Regional Governor Dmitry Makhonin said that Ukraine had hit the Azot chemical plant in Perm Krai on Thursday into Friday.
The plant is one of Russia’s largest nitrogen fertiliser producers and supplies chemicals for both agriculture and explosives.
Russia is trying to jam UK military satellites ‘weekly’, head of Space Command says
Russian forces are regularly attempting to jam UK military satellites, the head of UK Space Command has revealed.
Major General Paul Tedman told the BBC that these efforts to disrupt UK-based military activities occur “weekly”, with Russia also closely monitoring the country’s space assets.
“We’re seeing our satellites being jammed by the Russians on a reasonably persistent basis,” Maj Gen Tedman stated.
Read the full article:
Russia detains suspect ‘recruited by Ukraine for attacks on infrastructure’
Russia’s FSB security service claimed to have detained a 53-year-old Russian man alleged to have been recruited by Ukraine for acts of “sabotage and terrorism”, the Russian TASS news agency reported on Friday.
The suspect was alleged to have been recruited “to gather intelligence regarding military installations on the peninsula and to prepare acts of sabotage and terrorism,” the FSB told the agency.
The FSB said the suspect had taken components of an IED from a cache and sent photos of the deployment of two S-300 air defence systems in Crimea and their coordinates to the Ukrainian special service by WhatsApp.
The FSB claimed he had confessed and been remanded in custody.
What do we know about the Munich airport shutdown?
Munich airport was shut down temporarily late on Thursday following a string of reported drone sightings in the area, the airport said.
Officials said that 17 flights were unable to take off, affecting almost 3,000 passengers. Fifteen arriving flights were diverted to three other airports in Germany and one in Austria.
Amid heightened concern over recent drone sightings and incursions attributed to Russia, European authorities and foreign media have expressed concerns that Russia could be behind the incident in Munich.
There was no immediate confirmation of where the drones came from. The airport has since reopened.
Copenhagen and Oslo airports were recently forced to shut after drones were sighted near airports and military airspaces. Russian authorities rejected claims of involvement in recent drone incidents in Denmark.
Danish authorities said there was no evidence Russia was involved.
Putin says ‘impossible to believe’ Moscow wants a war with Nato
Russian president Vladimir Putin has said it is ‘impossible to believe” that Moscow wants a war with Nato nations.
Putin said that while Europe’s “ruling elites” have warned a war with Russia is near, it is “impossible to believe” as it will run against Russia’s security interests. He was speaking yesterday at the Valdai Discussion Club, a forum of Russia experts, in the city of Sochi.
He also said Europeans are sceptical as they “don’t know what is so bad about Russia and why they should tighten their belts to counter Russia”.
