Ukrainian drones have targeted a compressor station that forms part of the Blue Stream natural gas pipeline supplying Russian gas to Türkiye, Gazprom said on Wednesday, adding that the attack failed to disrupt deliveries.
According to the Russian energy giant, the Krasnodarskaya pumping station in Russia’s southern Krasnodar Region was targeted in a drone attack early on the morning of July 7, in an attempt to disrupt gas supplies to Türkiye.
Gazprom added that emergency measures taken by personnel prevented any interruption to gas flows through the pipeline, while repair work is underway to fix the damage caused by the attack.
The strike comes as Kiev has intensified long-range drone attacks targeting energy facilities and civilian sites inside Russia amid continued setbacks on the battlefield in recent months. Last week, the Russian Defense Ministry reported the capture of the key Ukrainian stronghold of Konstantinovka, which opens the way towards the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration, the last two remaining cities held by Kiev in Donbass.
The latest attack on the Blue Stream network follows a series of strikes on gas export infrastructure. In March, Gazprom reported that it repelled Ukrainian drone attack on three compressor stations serving both the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines. Russia’s Defense Ministry said at the time that the strike on the Russkaya compressor station was intended to halt gas supplies via TurkStream to EU consumers. The company reported another drone strike targeting the same station in April.
Commenting on the latest strike, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia is taking the maximum possible measures to minimize the threat of Ukrainian terrorist attacks against the global energy system. Peskov also expressed hope that Türkiye and other countries would use their influence to dissuade Kiev from carrying out such attacks.
Moscow has said it will respond to Kiev’s actions with “systematic and consistent strikes” on Ukraine’s military infrastructure. According to the Defense Ministry, Russian forces carried out more precision strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial facilities in Kiev in the early hours of Wednesday.