Largest Russian strike on Ukraine’s gas system since 2022

Russia strikes Ukraine gas facilities in its largest assault on the country’s energy system since the full-scale invasion began, hammering Naftogaz production and processing sites in the eastern regions of Kharkiv and Poltava overnight on 3 October 2025. According to the state energy company, Russia launched 35 missiles, many of them ballistic, alongside 60 attack drones in a concerted effort to cripple Ukraine’s gas infrastructure just as temperatures begin to fall. Ukrainian air defenses shot down part of the swarm, but several missiles and drones still punched through and hit critical facilities.

Energy terror aimed at winter heating and civilians

Naftogaz warns that the strikes are part of a long-running campaign to break Ukraine’s resilience by targeting the energy lifelines that keep homes warm and lights on during the cold months. The damaged sites handle gas production and preparation for everyday civilian use, not frontline operations. Company head Serhiy Koretsky condemned the barrage as deliberate terror against infrastructure that heats homes, schools, and hospitals, stressing that the attack offers no real military advantage. By hitting gas facilities weeks before peak demand, Moscow appears intent on disrupting the heating season, driving up repair and import costs, and forcing Ukrainians to endure another winter under threat of sudden outages.

Emergency repairs and search for international support

Firefighters, Naftogaz engineers, and Ukraine’s State Emergency Service moved quickly to contain fires, secure damaged installations, and assess how much production capacity has been lost. Technical teams are now racing to reroute flows, repair equipment, and calculate how much additional gas Ukraine may need to import to avoid shortages. At the same time, Kyiv is engaging international partners for rapid assistance, from emergency gas supplies and financing to further reinforcement of air defenses guarding critical infrastructure. The scale of this strike underlines that Ukraine’s energy sector will remain a key battlefield of the war this winter, and that defending pipelines, compressor stations, and storage sites is now as vital to civilian survival as protecting cities from direct bombardment.