Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Thursday that air defenses repelled a drone attack on a compressor station linked to the TurkStream natural gas pipeline, the latest in a series of reported strikes on infrastructure used to send Russian gas to Turkey and parts of Europe.
Gazprom said three fixed-wing drones targeted the Russkaya compressor station in southern Russia early Thursday. The company said the attack caused no damage and did not disrupt operations. The station is the starting point of TurkStream, a pipeline that carries Russian gas under the Black Sea to Turkey and onward to southeastern Europe.
Several European countries, including Hungary, Slovakia and Serbia, still receive Russian gas through TurkStream, one of the few remaining export routes to Europe after the collapse of most other pipeline links since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukraine of trying to hit compressor stations tied to TurkStream and Blue Stream, another pipeline that delivers Russian gas to Turkey. Gazprom said in March that such facilities came under repeated drone attacks but that the strikes were repelled.
Ukraine did not immediately comment on Thursday’s claim. Kyiv has targeted Russian energy infrastructure during the war in an effort to weaken Moscow’s economy and its ability to fund military operations, while Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system have caused long power and heating outages for civilians.
© Agence France-Presse