Russia accuses Ukraine of blowing up gas station in Kursk, attacks oil depot with new missile

Video footage shows the fire at the Sudzha facility, located inside Russia, a few hundred metres from the Ukrainian border.

According to Russian media reports, in the early morning of March 21, the Ukrainian military blew up the Sudzha gas metering station, a major pipeline through which Russian gas once flowed to Europe. The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case related to the terrorist attack.

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Video of a Russian gas pumping station in Kursk on fire (source: X/OT).

The station lies inside Russian territory that was seized by Ukrainian forces last year, but which Moscow has largely retaken in an offensive in recent weeks.

Russia has accused Kiev of attacking Russian energy infrastructure, including the attack on the Sudzha gas metering station, showing that the country does not really want peace, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news conference.

However, Ukraine has not acknowledged the accusation. Kiev even said that Russian forces destroyed the facility themselves as an act of provocation.

Mr Peskov said the idea that Russia would destroy its own energy infrastructure was “absurd”.

In addition to the Kursk gas pumping station explosion, Russia recently saw an explosion at the Tuapse oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region, where firefighters were trying to extinguish a blaze that broke out on Tuesday following a Ukrainian drone attack hours after Mr Putin spoke to Mr Trump.

Russia's Tuapse oil refinery in Krasnodar burns after being hit by Ukrainian airstrikes. Screenshot

"During the firefighting process, due to a decrease in pressure in the tank, an explosion occurred and the oil product was released," the Russian regional government said on the Telegram messaging app.

The fire spread to another tank and grew to 10,000 square metres – double the original size of the fire. More than 450 firefighters tried to extinguish the fire and two people were injured.

The Tuapse refinery is one of Russia's largest, as it can process up to 12 million tons of oil per year, which is a boon to both the Russian economy and military needs.

The explosion was initially blamed on drone attacks, but suspicions arose when the Ukrainian General Staff confirmed that they were using a new version of the Neptune missile.

Ukraine's new long-range Neptune rocket. Screenshot

According to official statements, the Long Neptune missile has a 150 kg warhead. However, based on the size of the explosion and damage to the target, some analysts have speculated that this figure could be as high as 300 kg. Additionally, the Ukrainian General Staff stated that the Long Neptune missile has an improved range of up to 1,000 km compared to the 300 km of the previous version.

Bui Huy (according to TASS, BLM, Reuters)