A gas pumping and measuring station near Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region was burning on Friday following reports of a large explosion at the facility.
Footage being circulated on social media platforms purportedly shows a large explosion and fire burning against a nighttime backdrop.
Both Russia and Ukraine said they would refrain from attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure, following telephone calls this week between US President Donald Trump and presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Putin rejected a proposal for a full 30-day ceasefire.
Russia blaming Ukraine for explosion
Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement on Telegram that it had initiated a criminal investigation in connection with the explosion and accused Ukraine’s military of being behind it.
The committee said that “Ukrainian armed formations who illegally crossed into the territory of the Russian Federation, carried out a targeted explosion of the ‘Sudzha’ gas distribution station.”
It said that the facility has “sustained significant damage.”
What Ukraine’s military says happened
Ukraine’s General Staff of the Armed Forces issued a statement accusing Russia of “intensifying its discrediting campaign against Ukraine” and said “the enemy has accused the Ukrainian Defense Forces of shelling the Sudzha gas metering station.”
Ukraine’s military said the allegations were “groundless” and said that the station had been “repeatedly shelled by the Russians themselves.”
The statement went to mention previous instances in which the facility was struck and said Russian forces “used the main gas pipeline to covertly move their units,” adding that this was being done to “mislead the international community.”
Odesa pummeled by strikes
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meanwhile said in a post on X that Russia had launched hundreds of strikes across the country and said there had been fires at a shopping mall and the residential structures had been damaged.
The Ukrainian leader said that three children were injured while in Zaporizhzhia, Zelenskyy said six people were injured, including a 4-year-old child.
Odesa region head, Oleh Kiper, said the city suffered “local emergency power outages” in three districts, indicating that energy infrastructure may have been damaged.
The strikes came shortly before Czech Republic President Peter Pavel visited Odesa earlier on Friday morning and held meetings with the city’s leaders and officials from other southern regions.
Edited by: Louis Oelofse
