Russia ups strikes on Ukraine's gas sector as heating season starts

Aliaksandr Kudrytski, Daryna Krasnolutska, Bloomberg News on Oct 3, 2025

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Ukraine’s state-owned giant Naftogaz suffered the largest aerial attack on its gas extraction infrastructure since the start of the war as Russia increased its targeting of the energy sector at the start of the heating season.

Russia attacked gas extraction facilities in the Kharkiv region in the east, as well as in Poltava in central Ukraine, in the early hours on Friday with 35 missiles and 60 drones, Chief Executive Officer Sergii Koretskyi said in a statement on the company website. The assault damaged a significant portion of Naftogaz facilities, some of them critically, he said.

“There was no military purpose or rationale,” Koretskyi added. “It was yet another display of Russian malice, aimed solely at disrupting the heating season and depriving Ukrainians of the ability to heat their homes this winter.”

The defense ministry in Moscow confirmed the attack in a statement on Telegram on Friday, saying its forces launched the massive aerial strike against Ukraine’s gas infrastructure overnight, using long-range weapons and drones.

With its full-scale invasion well into its fourth year, Russia has increased its aerial strikes over the past weeks, with a focus on energy infrastructure. Chernihiv, a region protecting the Kyiv area from Russia in the northeast and bordering Belarus, has recently faced especially fierce assaults, disrupting energy supply and triggering a temporary blackout at the confinement facility of the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl this week.

The Sumy region, bordering Russia to the east, has also come under attack and Russian drone strikes have been causing regular power cuts in the Kyiv region lately.

The market reaction to the upsurge of Russian strikes on Ukrainian gas infrastructure has been muted.

European gas prices have been trading near 31 euros ($36) a megawatt-hour for the last few days, near their lowest levels this year, suggesting that there’s limited concern about the impact geopolitical risks may have on the region’s balance of supplies as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on.

Russian attacks have reduced Naftogaz’s daily extraction by 42% this year, forcing Ukraine to import 5.8 billion cubic meters of gas in 2025 to stockpile ahead of the heating season, Koretskyi said last month.

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(With assistance from Priscila Azevedo Rocha and Kateryna Chursina.)