Poltavshchyna may be left without gas stations: Russians deliberately undermine fuel infrastructure

In the evening 9 of August and immediately after midnight 10 the enemy massively attacked oil filling stations and gas extraction facilities in the Poltava district, namely in the Opishnia and Kotelya communities. This is a deliberate tactic by the enemy to destroy fuel infrastructure. “First they struck gas stations in Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv regions; now they have reached Poltava. So I think the whole region will soon be left without fuel,” said the head of Opishnia community Mykola Riznyk in a video address posted on his Facebook page. According to him, the destroyed gas stations cannot be restored. As a result of the attack in Opishnia four private households were damaged. There were no injuries. Local residents say the Ukrnafta gas station, which had just been destroyed, was also targeted by the enemy a week earlier. In broad daylight, exactly when the local market nearby was in full swing. Fortunately, air defenses shot down Russian drones on approach to the village, otherwise everything could have been much more tragic. Shortly before, the community, attempting to minimize the consequences of a possible strike, covered the gas station with bags of sand. Maybe this really slowed down some fragments, but it did not save the object from destruction. There are also two gas stations in Kotelyevska community, where reactive “Shahed” drones hit. The head of Opishnia community advises stocking gasoline in canisters, as a sharp deficit and panic may soon come. And the main rule now is to stay as far away from gas stations as possible during alerts. In Mykola Riznyk’s view, Ukraine urgently needs to change legislative norms, to lift the ban on selling fuel from tankers to those who have licenses, especially in regions where the enemy is massively destroying gas stations. Systematic shelling of fuel facilities has become part of the Russian army’s tactics. In particular, the enemy is methodically destroying gas stations on the Kyiv–Kharkiv road, which is crucial for military logistics. “If people are left without fuel, without electricity, without water, and mobile communications (it can be predicted that after the removal of gas and energy structures the enemy will turn to mobile network towers), the country will begin to shake. Therefore we must respond very promptly to these challenges,” emphasizes Mykola Riznyk. Overall, as Financial Times reports, citing Ukrainian officials and local authorities, more than 200 gas stations have been destroyed in the country due to enemy attacks. Earlier reports stated that during the Shahed attack on Poltava region gas stations, a volunteer from Sweden was injured. The photo in the headline shows the consequences of the enemy strike in Opishnia. Photo from open sources