Selensky in a speech

Infrastructure for gas transit to the EU under attack

Symbolic image

(Bild: AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has deplored Russian attacks on the country's gas transit system. Objects through which gas is transported through Ukraine to the European Union have been attacked, said Selenskyj in his evening video message broadcast in Kiev on Saturday. Despite the Russian war of aggression, which has been going on for more than two years, Russian gas continues to flow through the country - albeit in much smaller quantities.

Previously, the state gas company Naftogaz had also complained about Russian attacks on the pipeline network, without giving details. The company recently announced that it would no longer be transporting Russian gas to the west from 2025 onwards - the current contracts with the Russian state-owned company Gazprom expire at the end of the year. The main recipients are countries without access to the sea that cannot switch to liquefied natural gas (LNG).

On Saturday night, Russia once again attacked Ukraine with missiles, targeting energy facilities in particular. Four thermal power plants were damaged, according to the energy company DTEK.

The premises of a hospital in Kharkiv were also hit.

(Bild: APA/AFP/SERGEY BOBOK)

Ukraine calls for more Patiot air defense systems
Following the air strikes, Zelenskyi once again demanded more air defense support from the West. In his video address, he explained that Russia had expanded the radius with its massive attacks, which was now making the work of the Ukrainian air defense even more difficult. Ukraine needs more US Patriot air defense systems.

Workers in Ukraine are in the process of repairing the damage caused by the new Russian attacks, said Selensky. Moscow had previously explained the massive new shelling of energy facilities in Ukraine by saying that Kiev was also attacking Russian infrastructure with drones.

During one such attack, a fire broke out at an oil processing plant in the Krasnodar region on Saturday. However, the damage on the Russian side is disproportionate to the massive destruction caused by Moscow's missile strikes against Ukrainian facilities.