Just minutes after claiming the ‘explosion’ at “The Brotherhood” pipeline in Ukraine was not an explosion but a ‘fire’, Ukraine’s interior minister Arsen Avakov has stated that:
*UKRAINE SAYS GAS PIPELINE EXPLOSION PROBABLY TERROR ATTACK
Of course, the question is which ‘terrorists’? The Right Sector or the Russian separatists. According to reports from UKRTransGas, the fire has now been extinguished but it is the rhetoric of Ukraine’s Yatsenyuk “Russia is trying to detroy Ukraine” that is most troubling as, like Russia’s Pushkov warned, Ukraine-Russia tensions have reached a new stage.
As Bloomberg reports, Ukraine is blaming the Russians for the explosion…
Terrorism suspected in blast today on Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod transit pipeline, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov says in website statement.
Other causes of explosion also under investigation
Avakov says explosion is another attempt by Russia to discredit Ukraine as partner in gas industry
Gas transit wasn’t disrupted
Ukraine to boost security along gas transport system, Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev says on Facebook
But did Ukraine ‘terrorize’ its own infrastructure? Biting off their own nose to spite the Russians as they no longer benefit from it… and forcing a squeeze on European supplies in order to gain more backing for either aid or military action?
Largest Gas Pipeline Serving Europe Through Ukraine Blows Up
Not clear if the explosion was an accident or deliberate
The Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod or “Brotherhood” natural gas pipeline in the Poltava region of central Ukraine has gone up in flames.
It is the largest consumer gas pipeline in Europe supplying gas to the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Hungary and countries in the Balkans. The pipeline stretches 2,800 miles from Siberia’s Urengoy gas field through Ukraine to Europe.
According to witnesses flames from the ruptured pipeline reached 200 meters high.
“The explosion occurred at about 14:45 local time in a field. Due to the flame and the high temperatures, it is impossible to get closer to the epicenter,” a local police press service statement reported.
It was not clear if the explosion was an accident or deliberate. The incident follows on the heels of the Russian energy company Gazprom cutting off gas supplies on Monday after Ukraine missed paying an installment of nearly $2 billion for past deliveries.