Naftogaz CEO urges assistance to protect Ukraine's underground gas storage
Photo: Oleksii Chernyshov, head of Naftogaz (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukraine requires a large number of air defense systems to protect underground gas storage facilities, stated Oleksii Chernyshov, the Chairman of the Board of NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, in an interview with the Financial Times.
According to him, Ukraine will need a significant amount of air defense to protect its own infrastructure.
"We might remain in a position where we would still need more air defense (even after assistance from the United States).EU countries, of course, should play a crucial role in that assistance," Chernyshov noted.
In this context, he mentioned that the European Union is interested in protecting Ukrainian gas storage facilities because Ukraine's gas infrastructure is integrated into Europe's energy system.
Moreover, as reported by FT, Naftogaz stated that gas storage facilities in western Ukraine have been attacked by Russia several times, but only surface facilities were damaged. Underground storage facilities, which can be up to 3 km deep, were not affected.
What preceded
On April 11th, Naftogaz reported that Russian occupiers had struck underground gas storage facilities.
However, despite this, the storage facilities continued to operate.
On the same day, the head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, Maksym Kozytskyi, announced a strike on an object of gas distribution infrastructure in the region.
