A Russian drone strike on a critical gas metering station in Ukraine's southern Odesa region hit infrastructure linked to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply corridor involving Bulgaria and Azerbaijan, Ukrainian officials said on August 6.

The overnight attack on August 5-6 targeted the Orlovka facility in the Izmail district, close to Ukraine’s border with Romania, where gas enters from the Trans-Balkan pipeline. The pipeline, originally built to transport Russian gas through Ukraine to Southeast Europe, has recently been repurposed to support imports of LNG from the United States and Azerbaijan.

Ukraine’s state energy firm Naftogaz confirmed the site had been integrated into a new energy cooperation framework with Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR. The agreement, signed in late July, allows for trial shipments of Azerbaijani gas through the Trans-Balkan corridor via Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, as Kyiv seeks to diversify its energy supply ahead of winter.

“This was a deliberate blow to our preparations for the heating season—absolutely cynical,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a social media post. He accused Moscow of targeting Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure in an attempt to destabilise the country and disrupt international partnerships.

Ukraine’s energy ministry said dozens of drones were deployed in the strike, which caused a large fire at the Orlovka gas metering station. It described the attack as a calculated act of aggression aimed at undermining efforts to build up gas reserves for the cold season.

“This is a clear signal for all of Europe, which plans to completely phase-out russian natural gas by 2027,” said Minister of Energy Svitlana Grynchuk. “The massive russian drone attack on the key compressor station of the Trans-Balkan route shows that Moscow will use all available means and leverage to destroy the energy independence of Europeans and alternative gas supply route.”

Russia’s defence ministry confirmed the strike, claiming the targeted facility was being used by the Ukrainian military. Kyiv has rejected the allegation, saying the site had no military function and was strictly part of the civilian energy supply network.

The extent of the damage to the facility remains unclear. Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed whether gas transit operations have resumed, though 400,000 cubic metres were scheduled to pass through the station on the day of the strike.

The attack comes amid renewed escalation in strikes on energy and transport infrastructure by Russia, after a six-month lull Moscow resumed such operations in July, intensifying pressure on critical supply chains ahead of winter.

The Trans-Balkan pipeline, a Soviet-era system, once carried Russian gas to countries including Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. It has since become a vital corridor for Ukraine’s non-Russian gas imports.