Russia shot down nine Ukrainian drones trying to attack the infrastructure of the TurkStream gas pipeline, the Russian Defense Ministry informed on January 13.
"On January 11, 2025, Kiev used 9 drones to attack infrastructure at the Russkaya compression station in Gai-Kodzor settlement in the Krasnodar region. This compresssion station supplies gas to the TurkStream pipeline. The aim of the attack was to block gas supplies to European countries. The air defense system shot down all drones involved in the attack," the statement said.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the facility is still operating normally, with no casualties.
The Russian Defense Ministry added that debris from a drone caused minor damage to the building and equipment of the gas station, but rescue teams quickly repaired it.
The TurkStream gas pipeline starts at Russkaya gas compressors, a suburb of Russia's Anapa city, to Kıyıkoy, Turkey, then to Europe. Compression stations are used to stabilize pressure and gas flow.
The TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines, running under the Black Sea to Türkiye, are the last gas pipelines to bring Russian gas to Europe after Ukraine refused to extend the gas transit agreement through its territory earlier this year.
In early 2025, Hurriyet Daily News reported that over the past five years, the TurkStream pipeline has transported 104.1 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Turkey and then to Europe.
Accordingly, from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2024, about 44.4 billion cubic meters of gas were transported from Russia to Turkey and 59.8 billion cubic meters of gas were transported to Europe via the TurkStream pipeline.
Hurriyet Daily News emphasized that after the closure of the Nord Stream, Nord Stream 2 and Yamal - Europe pipelines and Ukraine's suspension of Russian gas transit, TurkStream is increasingly important because this is the only transit route that can continue to deliver Russian gas to Europe.
TurkStream includes two 930 km long pipelines at sea and two separate land pipelines of 142 km and 70 km long. The pipeline was officially inaugurated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Putin and Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 1, 2020.
The first section of TurkStream stretches from Anapa in Russia to Kıyıkoy, Turkey, with a total transport capacity of 31.5 billion m3, supplying gas to Turkey. The gas is transported to Europe via a second section of 142 km long, 1.2 m wide, stretching from Kiyikoy to Bulgaria, built by TurkStream Gas Transport Company.
