Russia has accused Ukrainian forces of destroying the Sudzha gas station when they withdrew from the city of the same name in Kursk province.
Moscow condemned the operation as a terrorist act and a violation of a partial ceasefire agreement reached between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.
The Sudzha gas station is part of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline, which carries Russian gas to Europe via Ukraine.
The pipeline has been in operation for decades, even as Ukraine took control of the station in August last year. However, gas supplies were halted earlier this year after Kiev refused to extend its contract with Russian energy giant Gazprom.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that in the early morning of March 21, Ukrainian forces detonated a blasting operation at the Sudzha gas station when they withdrew from Kursk province.
Previously, the Sudzha station was occupied and used by Ukraine as a safe logistics hub. However, as the situation reversed and Ukraine gradually lost control in Kursk, they were accused of deliberately destroying the facility. The Russian military called it a "purposeful Provocation".
The gas station suffered heavy damage after the explosion. The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal investigation and has vowed to search and bring all those involved to trial.
On March 18, President Trump and President Putin held a phone call about a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. Although it did not agree to a complete ceasefire, Russia agreed to stop attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities within 1 month. Kiev is also committed to complying with the agreement.
However, with the attack on the Sudzha station, Russia said that Ukraine had violated the agreement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the incident show clearly that Kiev is untrustworthy.
This is not the first time Ukraine has been accused of breaking a ceasefire. Less than 24 hours after the deal took effect, Russia said Ukraine used three suicide UAVs to attack an oil facility in the Krasnodar region, causing serious fire and explosion.
Moscow said that both attacks on Krasnodar and Sudzha were aimed at undermining President Trump's peace efforts.
Meanwhile, Ukraine claimed Russia had destroyed the Sudzha gas station itself to blame Kiev, an accusation that the Kremlin has completely denied.
Youve all seen todays Sudzha station the pipes on fire. But Kiev claimed that Russia had shelled it itself. That is unreasonable, TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
Public opinion has questioned: Is this a sign that this fragile ceasefire will soon collapse?
