MOSCOW/KIEV, Oct. 20 — Ukraine and Russia on Sunday traded drone and missile attacks targeting each other’s key energy supply facilities, according to official statements from both sides.
Ukrainian drones struck a major gas processing plant in Russia’s Orenburg region near the Kazakh border, causing a fire and forcing a temporary suspension of gas intake from Kazakhstan, Russian and Kazakh authorities said.
The Orenburg plant, operated by state-owned energy giant Gazprom, is one of the world’s largest facilities of its kind, with an annual processing capacity of about 45 billion cubic meters.
Regional Governor Yevgeny Solntsev said the attack set fire to a workshop and damaged part of the plant. Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry confirmed that Gazprom had halted the processing of Kazakh gas due to the emergency caused by the drone attack.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces launched a heavy attack on a coal mine in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region.
All 192 miners who were underground at the time were safely evacuated, the management said, adding that it was the fourth large-scale attack on the company’s coal facilities in the past two months.
“Shortly before the start of the heating season, the enemy has once again struck a blow against the Ukrainian energy industry,” the mine’s management said in a statement on Telegram. (Xinhua)
