Russia was reportedly targeting two of Ukraine’s underground gas storage facilities in western Ukraine during a massive missile strike on Wednesday morning.
A source in Ukraine’s energy sector, who wished to stay anonymous, told Kyiv Post that Russia targeted an underground gas storage site in Striy and another near Drohobych, both located in the Lviv region.
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The latter was the Oparske underground gas storage, the second largest in the region.
“The storage is quite large – almost 2 billion cubic meters,” the source told Kyiv Post. The account was confirmed by two other sources from Ukraine’s energy market.
One of the sources told Kyiv Post that three missiles were launched at the gas storage facilities, but none reached their targets.
Maxym Kozytsky, the head of the Lviv Regional Administration, claimed earlier on Telegram that “two critical infrastructure facilities in Drohobych and Stryi districts” were damaged but reported no casualties.
Serhiy Nahorniak, a member of Ukraine’s Parliamentary Committee on Energy, Housing and Utility Services, told Kyiv24 that there is “significant equipment damage” on above-ground facilities but no major effects on Ukraine’s gas networks.
Naftogaz, Ukraine’s gas conglomerate, said on social media after the attack that all facilities are “operating as usual” and that gas supplies are uninterrupted.
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Ukraine’s State Emergency Service also reported around noon on Facebook that a “fire in a warehouse” at “critical infrastructure facilities” in the Ivano-Frankivsk region broke out but was soon extinguished.
On Wednesday morning, Jan. 15, Russia fired missiles, including hypersonic Kinzhals, from more than 13 strategic bombers, mostly targeting regions in western Ukraine.
The missile assault comes a day after Ukraine carried out its largest aerial attack on Russian territory of the nearly three-year war, hitting factories and energy hubs hundreds of kilometers from the front line.
Ukraine’s Air Force said on Telegram that Russia launched a total of 43 missiles and 74 drones at Ukraine on Wednesday morning, out of which 77 targets were intercepted.
Ukraine halted Russian gas transit to Europe on Jan. 1, ending a decades-long arrangement after Kyiv has repeatedly rallied against countries that continue to buy Russian oil and gas amid the invasion, accusing them of funding Russia’s invasion.
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