KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a Russian attack on his country’s energy sector on Saturday (Apr 27) had targeted gas facilities important for supply to the European Union.
Russia continues to supply gas to the EU via Ukraine under a transit deal with Russia’s Gazprom that is set to expire in December. Ukraine’s energy minister said last month that Kyiv had no plans to extend or replace the arrangement with Moscow, which pays Ukraine to export its gas to the EU.
“The main target was the energy sector, various facilities in the industry, both electricity and gas transit facilities, in particular, those gas facilities that are crucial to ensuring safe delivery to the European Union,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
Zelensky, who is campaigning for supplies of defensive weapons systems from his international partners, said that Ukrainian forces had “managed to shoot down some” of the 34 Russian missiles of various types.
He did not say which specific facilities were targeted, nor whether missiles hit those targets.
Ukraine’s state-run oil and gas firm Naftogaz said Russia had attacked its facilities but that no-one was hurt and supplies to Ukrainian consumers and clients were unaffected.
