The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have seized a gas metering station in Russia’s Kursk region as its unprecedented incursion into mainland Russia continues, pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Rybar reported on Wednesday.
“The enemy has seized the Sudzha gas metering station,” Rybar wrote, adding that the station functions as a transit point for Russian gas flowing through Ukraine to Europe.
The Sudzha station is “the only operational route for Russian pipeline gas flowing into Europe,” according to Russian oil and gas analyst Sergey Vakulenko, adding that so far it was “hard to say” what the goals of the AFU operation might be.
“This could be an excuse for Gazprom to declare a force majeure and cut off supplies [to Europe]. Or maybe someone wants Gazprom to do just that,” Vakulenko wrote, adding that even if the Sudzha station were to be damaged in the fighting, it could be repaired in “a couple of weeks at the most”.
Despite reports of clashes near the station, Russian natural gas continued to transit Ukraine to European consumers “without any changes” as of midday Moscow time on Wednesday, Reuters reported, citing Kyiv’s gas transmission operator. Moldovan news outlet Newsmaker.md also said that gas transit through its territory had not been disrupted.
Neither the Russian authorities nor Russian energy giant Gazprom have commented on the reported seizure of the metering station, though Russia’s Defence Ministry did claim on Wednesday that its forces had thwarted the Ukrainian advance into the border region of Kursk.
Reports of an AFU incursion into Russian territory first appeared in the early hours of Tuesday, with Russian pro-war Telegram channels confirming earlier on Wednesday that the AFU had gained a foothold in Russia proper for the first time since the war began.
Ukrainian military expert Roman Svitan told Novaya Gazeta Europe on Wednesday that while the government in Kyiv was unlikely to either confirm or deny AFU involvement, he was “fully confident” that the raid amounted to “battlefield reconnaissance” and that Russia currently has “absolutely no control over the border as things stand”.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, Vladimir Putin called the Ukrainian incursion “a large-scale provocation” before claiming without evidence that the AFU were “firing indiscriminately from various types of weapons, including missiles, at civilian buildings, residential buildings and ambulances”.