Ukraine faces possibly its toughest winter since Russia invaded, the head of the country’s state-run gas operator told AFP, accusing Moscow of being determined to cut off heating to civilians as temperatures plunge below zero.

Moscow has heavily targeted Ukraine’s energy grid throughout the four-year war, but it has this year expanded attacks on the country’s gas facilities.

Naftogaz CEO Sergiy Koretsky said this year’s strikes have been more intense and started earlier in the winter, compounding the impact.

“The destruction and losses of Ukrainian gas production are significant. And the restoration of this production will be lengthy,” he told AFP in an interview conducted last week.

Asked how he expects the rest of the winter to play out, compared to previous years, Koretsky said that “it will definitely be harder”.

Russian attacks had wrought damage worth some $1.1 billion on Ukraine’s gas network, he said, adding that restoration work at some plants would take up to two years as they require custom-made parts from Europe and the United States.

“Since the beginning of October, ahead of the heating season, the intensity, combination and aggressiveness of the attacks have increased significantly. The number of missiles alone is measured in hundreds,” he told AFP.

“The sole purpose of these maniacal terrorist attacks on the gas infrastructure is the desire for Ukrainians to panic, for Ukraine to be left without gas, electricity and heat,” he said.

– ‘Impossible’ task –

According to AFP analysis of Ukrainian air force statistics, Russia has launched record numbers of drones and missiles at Ukraine in recent months.

Koretsky insisted that protecting some of the country’s vast gas facilities from Russian missiles is “impossible”.
“Accordingly, there are hits, there is destruction.”

At one gas production site hit in a recent Russian strike, AFP reporters saw storage canisters blown apart, surrounded by collapsed pipes and mangled, rusting metal.

Koretsky refused to quantify the level of damage, saying only that it was “significant”.

National gas production in 2025 will be “significantly less” than the 13.9 billion cubic metres (bcm) recorded in 2024, and the recent wave of attacks is forcing Kyiv to import an additional four bcm at a cost of $2 billion.

Officials have said at various points through the war that strikes have led to the loss of between 40 and 50 percent of Ukraine’s gas production.

Power outages are frequent across the country, as a result of both rolling blackouts imposed by the authorities to ration electricity and emergency outages triggered by hits to the energy network.