Russian air defenses have downed three UAVs as they approached a key compressor station on the gas pipeline, according to the military
Russian air defenses have intercepted three drones near a key compressor station in Krasnodar Region servicing the TurkStream gas pipeline, in what the Defense Ministry in Moscow has described as a Ukrainian sabotage attempt.
The pipeline delivers Russian natural gas to Turkish customers and several European countries, including Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Greece. Operational since January 2020, it has an annual capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters.
In a statement on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that “on the night of February 28, against the backdrop of [Ukrainian leader] Vladimir Zelensky’s visit to Washington, the Kiev regime carried out yet another attempt to attack the Russkaya gas compressor station in the village of Gaikodzor… with the help of three fixed-wing UAVs.” Moscow suggested that Kiev had sought to disrupt the delivery of Russian gas to European nations.
According to the ministry, all three incoming drones were destroyed some distance away from the facility, with the energy infrastructure sustaining no damage and continuing normal operations.
During a phone call on Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asked his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, to exert influence on the Ukrainian leadership to dissuade Kiev from attempting to “carry out terrorist attacks against civilian infrastructure.” Fidan said Ankara would take all necessary measures in this respect, according to a readout released by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
The Russkaya Compressor Station serves as the point of exit on Russian soil for gas delivered via the TurkStream.
In January, the ministry reported a similar incident that involved nine kamikaze drones, which were all intercepted. However, debris from explosions caused minor damage to the gas compressor station, which was swiftly repaired by the facility’s personnel.
Commenting on the incident at the time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Ukraine of engaging in acts of “energy terrorism.”
Türkiye also confirmed the attack several days later, while Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, whose country is among the recipients serviced by the TurkStream, said Budapest views any attempts to sabotage its energy supply as undermining its national sovereignty.
The European Commission stated last month that “obviously, any attack on energy infrastructure is something that is worrying.”
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Moscow has accused Kiev of targeting the pipeline on multiple occasions.
Late last month, Reuters reported that deliveries of Russian natural gas via the TurkStream had reached a historic high, with preliminary calculations indicating that supplies exceeded 50 million cubic meters per day in January 2025.
After Ukraine decided in late 2024 to terminate its five-year gas transit contract with Russian energy giant Gazprom, the TurkStream has been the sole route supplying Russian gas to southern and southeastern Europe.
