Ukrainian attack on EU-bound Russian gas pipeline: What happened

Moscow has slammed the sabotage as a provocation that violates the partial ceasefire

Russian officials have accused Ukrainian forces of destroying a gas metering station while retreating from the city of Sudzha in Kursk Region. Moscow has condemned the attack as an act of terrorism and a violation of the partial ceasefire agreed this week by the presidents of Russia and the US. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky promised to honor the agreement.

The facility’s role

The Sudzha gas metering station is part of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline, which runs through Russia’s Kursk Region, into Ukraine and further into Europe. For decades, the pipeline had delivered gas from Russia to the EU and the flow did not stop even after Kiev’s forces captured the station in August. Deliveries were only shut off at the start of this year after Ukraine refused to renew the contract with Russian operator Gazprom.

The destruction of the metering station

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Friday that shortly after midnight, Kiev’s forces retreating from Kursk blew up the Sudzha gas metering facility.