Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Friday of destroying a Russian gas pumping station near the border, escalating tensions as discussions continue over a US-backed moratorium on attacks against energy infrastructure.
Footage of the Sudzha facility, located just inside Russia near the Ukrainian border, showed the site engulfed in flames. The pumping station is in a region that Ukraine had previously captured but which Moscow has mostly reclaimed in recent weeks after intense fighting. Last week, Russian forces pushed Ukrainian troops out of the nearby town of Sudzha.
Russia’s defense ministry claimed that retreating Ukrainian troops blew up the station, violating a ceasefire agreement on energy infrastructure that Russia says it has honored since President Vladimir Putin’s call with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday. In contrast, Kyiv accused Moscow of staging the explosion as a provocation, dismissing the Russian allegations as “fake news.”
The blast comes after Putin’s consent to a short-term stoppage of energy attacks in his talk with Trump, although he dismissed a more comprehensive 30-day ceasefire offer. Ukraine signaled its readiness to sign the deal if ratified in talks.
Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case, describing the attack as “an act of terrorism” that resulted in “serious damage” to the gas station. The Ukrainian military meanwhile accused Russian troops of shelling the facility themselves in a staged operation.
Elsewhere, an oil depot exploded in Russia’s Krasnodar region where firefighters were still fighting a blaze caused by a Ukrainian drone strike earlier in the week. The fire, that spread to another tank, covers over 10,000 square meters.
The two sides have continued to bomb energy sites while ceasefire talks remain ongoing.