Russia’s Defense Ministry announced in a statement yesterday (January 13) that Ukraine unsuccessfully targeted the TurkStream natural gas pipeline running across the Black Sea. Nine Ukrainian drones were reportedly downed by Russia in the thwarted attack, and natural gas has continued to flow uninhibited.
The alleged attack took place last Saturday (January 11), according to the Russian Defense Ministry’s statement, and targeted a section of the natural gas pipeline in the country’s southern Krasnodar region. Krasnodar lies just inland from Russia’s Black Sea coast and hosts a compressor station connected to the pipeline.
Russian air defense systems reportedly identified and downed the drones, preventing major damage to the pipeline. A piece of one of the downed drones did strike the compressor station but did not result in significant damage. Ukraine has yet to make a statement on the matter or respond to Russia’s allegations.
Minor damage to the compressor station was quickly repaired by Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas provider.
The targeted compression station is an important point on the pipeline where the natural gas is pressurized before continuing across the Black Sea to a Turkish station near the town of Kıyıköy.
The TurkStream pipeline supplies natural gas from Russia to both Turkey and southeastern Europe, and was inaugurated in 2020.
Previous sabotage on natural gas pipeline
On September 26, 2022, a series of underwater explosions caused gas leaks on three out of four Nord Stream pipelines, rendering them inoperable. Nord Stream 1 (NS1) and Nord Stream 2 (NS2) are natural gas pipelines and part of the 23 connecting Europe and Russia. The leaks occurred in international waters but within the economic zones of Denmark and Sweden. Both pipelines, built to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, are majority-owned by Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas company. Russia has alleged Ukrainian involvement in the sabotage, though no official conclusions have been reached.
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
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