The Ukrainian military has accused Russia of sabotaging one of its own gas facilities in a ‘false flag’ operation to incriminate Kyiv’s forces after the two sides agreed to stop attacking energy infrastructure.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement on Friday that a major fire at a natural gas pumping and metering station near the Ukrainian border had been caused by retreating Ukrainian troops.
“The blowing up of an important Russian energy facility by Ukrainian army units retreating from the Kursk region is a deliberate provocation by the Kyiv regime,” the ministry’s statement read, as reported by Reuters.
However, Ukrainian military officials hit back later on Friday, with the General Staff posting on Facebook that the claims were “baseless” and part of a campaign to discredit Kyiv.
“The mentioned station was repeatedly shelled by the Russians themselves,” the General Staff was quoted by the Kyiv Independent as saying. The paper went on to report that, according to the Ukrainian military, Russia has struck the facility with guided bombs in the past, including in an attack three days previously.
“The Russians continue to produce numerous fakes and seek to mislead the international community,” the statement continued. “We ask you to trust only official sources, verify the information, and not succumb to manipulation.”
Ukraine and Russia have agreed to a U.S. proposal for a limited ceasefire to prevent attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure, but such assaults have continued, according to recent reports.
The gas station set ablaze overnight is located in the town of Sudzha, which was until recently occupied by Ukraine, and formed a crucial part of Russia’s gas export network to Europe.
It was the last remaining processing point for exporting gas to Ukraine and then on to Central Europe until January of this year, when Kyiv opted against renewing its contract to carry Russian gas.
