Ukrainian rescuers work to extinguish a fire at the site of a Russian strike on a marketplace in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 1 October 2025, Photo: EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV
Combined Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Poltava regions last week took out roughly 60% of the country’s gas production, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing anonymous sources “with knowledge of the matter”.
The targeted infrastructure attacks, which involved over 380 drones and multiple ballistic missiles, caused an estimated €758 million worth of damage, according to Bloomberg, and
Kyiv will now be forced to purchase around 4.4 billion cubic metres of gas between now and the end of March in order to survive the coming winter, at an estimated cost of nearly €2 billion.
On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the attacks as an attempt by Moscow to undermine the country’s energy self-sufficiency. The Kremlin has long sought to exploit Ukraine’s reliance on natural gas by repeatedly targeting its energy infrastructure.
The severity of the situation has led Kyiv to request urgent aid from its G7 allies, including specialist equipment to repair the damage, funds to pay for gas imports, as well as more air defence systems to better protect gas infrastructure from future attacks.
European markets have reacted cautiously to the prospect of increased natural gas exports to Ukraine, with prices rallying earlier this week amid concerns that EU gas reserves may prove insufficient in the event of a harsh winter.
Nevertheless, Kyiv has pledged to shore up its own gas supplies as far as possible through increased domestic production, with the exact scale of imports required dependent on factors such as the speed of repairs at the affected sites and the scale of future airstrikes, according to Energy Minister Svitlana Grynchuk.
