Ministry: Russia struck gas hub supplying Azerbaijani, US LNG to Ukraine

Russia has launched a drone strike on a key Ukrainian gas facility transporting Azerbaijani and US natural gas to Europe, in what Kyiv calls a deliberate attack on civilian infrastructure and European energy security, according to the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine.

"The overnight attack hit a compressor station operated by Ukraine’s Gas Transmission System Operator (GTSOU) in the Odesa region, near the Romanian border," Caliber.Az quotes the Ministry as saying.

The site plays a pivotal role in the Trans-Balkan pipeline, which links Greek LNG terminals with Ukraine’s underground storage and has already been used to deliver US liquefied natural gas and test volumes of gas from Azerbaijan.

“This was not just an attack on Ukraine,” said Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk. “It was an attack on a critical route carrying Azerbaijani and American energy to Europe — a strike on our international partnerships and a warning to the entire continent.”

Ukraine’s government says the facility was struck by dozens of Russian attack drones in a deliberate attempt to disable infrastructure that bypasses Moscow.

Engineers are on site assessing the damage, though the full extent of the disruption remains unclear.

The strike comes as Europe prepares to end its reliance on Russian gas by 2027 — a timeline that Ukraine says is now under direct threat.

Grynchuk called on European leaders to recognise the broader implications: “If Russia is allowed to strike energy facilities like this with impunity, no infrastructure in Europe is safe. This is energy blackmail by drone.”

By Aghakazim Guliyev