Russian attacks hit urban gas supply points, Ukrainian ministry of energy reports

"We see that the enemy has begun attacking certain facilities – I won’t name them – on which the distribution of natural gas to specific settlements depends," he said.

According to Kolisnyk, these facilities are not strategic. "But the enemy is still testing the situation, trying to reduce gas transport capacity to a key heating facility or other critical object," the deputy minister added.

He noted that physical protection of these facilities is being strengthened to safeguard them from enemy attacks.

Gas imports

Kolisnyk also stated that Ukraine intends to import significant volumes of gas.

"The enemy has struck production. There are consequences. And this difference, what was lost, is effectively the target being offset by imports," he said.

The deputy minister emphasized that "the enemy will not stop, and he confirmed this by carrying out more than six attacks just in early October, and they continue."

Kolisnyk reported that Ukraine has "99.5% completed the plan for pumping gas into underground storage facilities ahead of the heating season," but imports will continue due to the drop in domestic production. The planned volume was 13.2 billion cubic meters of gas.

Shift in enemy tactics

Earlier, Kolisnyk stated that Russia has changed its energy attack tactics this year. The enemy is trying to provoke regional shortages in generation and transmission capacity. A single target may be attacked by many drones and missiles, which "overwhelms air defense systems."

Last week, Naftogaz urged Ukrainians to save gas due to new attacks on infrastructure. The company reported that dozens of missiles, including ballistic ones, and hundreds of drones struck civilian facilities that provide gas and heat to the population.