Kiev blew up metering station for EU-bound gas – Russia

The destruction of the border energy facility is the latest provocation by Ukraine, the Defense Ministry has said

Ukrainian forces retreating from Russia’s Kursk Region have destroyed the Sudzha gas metering station, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has reported.

The incident took place early on Friday, roughly 20 minutes after midnight, the ministry said in a statement. The facility had been previously used to deliver fuel to consumers in European nations.

Ukrainian forces seized the site in early August during their incursion into Kursk Region and used it as a secure logistics base, the ministry explained. The station, located close to the border, was deliberately blown up as part of the Ukrainian retreat, the military added.

”The demolition of the key Russian energy site was nothing short of an intentional provocation” in the context of the US-mediated partial ceasefire, under which Moscow pledged to refrain from attacks against Ukrainian energy infrastructure in exchange for a similar moratorium by Kiev.

READ MORE: Ukraine attacks Russian gas pipeline – reports

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has cited the incident as evidence that Kiev cannot be trusted, saying during a regular media briefing that Russian officials “have repeatedly warned our interlocutors about this.” He said that President Vladimir Putin’s order not to attack Ukrainian energy sites remained in force, per his agreement with Trump.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a criminal probe into the incident as an act of terrorism. It said Ukrainian military personnel currently involved in the Kursk Region incursion were responsible for the gas station’s demolition.

Kiev launched an assault into Kursk Region in hopes of seizing Russian territory as leverage in negotiations. Russian forces have since largely ousted Ukrainian troops, with Sudzha, previously a linchpin of Ukrainian operations, being liberated earlier this month.