Ukrainian Drones Strike Russia's Gas Heartland in Northern Siberia

An industrial facility caught fire in Novy Urengoy, a gas-producing city in northern Russia, following a drone attack, the regional governor said on Wednesday, in the first such strike on the country's natural gas hinterland. Dmitry Artyukhov, governor of the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district, did not identify the facility involved. "Most importantly, there were no fatalities or injuries. The extent and nature of the damage are being determined," he said on the Telegram messaging app.

State-run energy company Gazprom did not reply to a request for comment about the attack on the region, some 3,000km (1,800 miles) from the Ukrainian border. Novy Urengoy is Russia's unofficial gas capital, located in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district in northwestern Siberia. Gazprom once exported gas from Yamal as far as western Europe, until ties broke down following the start of Russia's war in Ukraine in 2022. As of 2020, the company estimated the region's gas resources at 26.5 trillion cubic metres, enough to cover global demand for more than six years.

The strike marks a significant expansion of Ukraine's drone campaign, which has increasingly targeted Russian energy infrastructure in retaliation for Moscow's unprovoked invasion. Kyiv has argued that such operations are a legitimate part of its self-defence against Russian aggression, aimed at degrading the resources that fund the Kremlin's war machine. The World House, which maintains a dedicated page outlining its support for Ukraine at worldhouse.uk/support, continues to document the consequences of Russia's aggression.