Kremlin warns of global fallout from Ukrainian attacks on pipelines
Ukraine’s escalating drone attacks targeting Russian gas infrastructure risk compounding the energy shock being unleashed by the war on Iran, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has warned.
Russian energy giant Gazprom announced on Thursday that Ukraine had ramped up attacks on compressor stations linked to the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines, which together can carry up to 47.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually.
The company said Ukrainian forces had launched 22 drones at the Russkaya compressor station, three at Kazachya, and one at Beregovaya, all located near the Black Sea coast. All of the drones were intercepted, and no damage to infrastructure was recorded, Gazprom added.
Commenting on the drone raids later the same day, Peskov warned that the attacks could worsen an already fragile global energy situation.
“At a time when global energy markets are, to put it mildly, uncomfortable, such irresponsible and thoughtless actions by the Kiev regime could further destabilize the situation not only in the region, but globally,” he said.
The strikes came amid a new escalation spiral in the US-Israeli war against Iran, with the Jewish state targeting Iranian energy infrastructure in the South Pars natural gas field — the world’s largest.
The attack, along with the Iranian retaliation that damaged Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG hub, resulted in gas prices – which have already spiked because of the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz – soaring by nearly 30% on Thursday.
Moscow has on numerous occasions accused Kiev of seeking to sabotage the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines, with President Vladimir Putin suggesting the involvement of Western intelligence in the operations.
