Moscow (TDI): Ukrainian drones struck a key pumping station at a major international pipeline in southern Russia disrupting supplies from Kazakhstan, the operator said Monday.
Ukraine has targeted Russia’s energy infrastructure throughout the three-year war, seeking to hit sites it says supply fuel to Moscow’s army or helps provide funds to back its offensive.
In the latest attack overnight, seven explosive-packed drones targeted a pumping station of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium which carries Kazakh oil across southern Russia for export via the Black Sea, including to Western Europe, according to AFP.
“Oil transportation through the Tengiz-Novorossiysk pipeline system is carried out at reduced pumping modes,” it said on social media.
The 1,500km pipeline is owned by a consortium in which the Russian and Kazakh governments as well as Western energy majors Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell hold stakes.
Last year, it loaded over 63 million tonnes of oil onto tankers at a terminal at the southern Russian port of Novorossiysk, the company said.
It added that the attack hit the Kropotkinskaya pumping station — the pipeline’s largest in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region.
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Nobody was injured and staff prevented the attack causing an oil spill, the statement said.
Both Russia and Ukraine launched massive drone attacks in an overnight wave, days after US President Donald Trump called the leaders of both nations to press for a ceasefire.
Ukraine’s air force said it downed 83 out of 147 drones that Moscow launched overnight, adding another 59 were “lost” without causing damage.
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Russia’s defense ministry stated it had “intercepted and destroyed” ninety Ukrainian drones, including twenty-four over the southern region of Krasnodar, where the Caspian Pipeline Consortium runs.
Ukraine’s grid operator Ukrenergo announced emergency outages in some regions “due to the consequences of Russian strikes on energy facilities.”
