By Pavel Polityuk
KYIV (Reuters) -Russia attacked a gas compressor station in eastern Ukraine that is important for getting gas into storage facilities for the winter heating season, two industry sources said on Thursday, part of an escalation of such strikes despite a U.S. peace push.
Ukraine has faced a serious gas shortage since Russian missile strikes earlier this year significantly reduced domestic production. In recent weeks, Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian gas production and import infrastructure in spite of efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to end the conflict.
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, but says energy systems and other infrastructure are legitimate targets because they help Ukraine’s war effort.
According to one of the sources, the compressor station attacked by Russia overnight ensures the delivery of gas from Ukrainian fields in the east of the country to storage facilities in the west where it is held for winter heating.
The Ukrainian energy ministry said only that one of the country’s gas infrastructure facilities had come under Russian attack overnight and that the damage caused was being assessed.
“Yes, it affects gas injection,” one of the sources said.
The Russian defence ministry said that its forces had carried out strikes overnight on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, among other targets.
Ukraine has increased gas imports this year and, according to the gas system operator, plans to import about 21 million cubic meters of gas on Thursday, most of which will go to storage facilities.
Amid summer consumption declines, most domestically produced gas is also being sent to reserves.
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s energy ministry said an overnight Russian attack had hit energy facilities in the central Ukrainian region of Poltava, causing large fires.
Earlier this month, Russia also attacked a gas pumping station in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region used for importing LNG from the U.S. and Azerbaijan.
In response to months of such attacks, Ukraine has been conducting almost daily drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and pipelines, which has already led to fuel shortages in a number of Russian regions.
For decades, Ukraine relied on Russian gas flows but it switched to importing gas from the West in 2015, a year after Russia annexed Crimea and began backing armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by William Maclean, Aidan Lewis, Philippa Fletcher)
