Russia’s overnight strike cripples Poltava gas fields — extraction halted across region

Oct 16, 2025 - 05:02
Russia’s overnight strike cripples Poltava gas fields — extraction halted across region

russia’s overnight strike cripples poltava gas fields — extraction halted across region · post smoke rises oblast after russia's missile strikes 16 2025 telegram/tsaplienko kai_1760596422346 ukraine news ukrainian reports

Earlier this morning, Russia struck Ukraine’s Poltava Oblast, hitting gas extraction infrastructure and forcing operations to stop. The attack combined drones and missiles and came amid nationwide air alerts due to Kinzhal missile threats. Local air raid alerts remained active throughout Ukrainian regions as Russian explosive drones moved across the country.

The overnight air assault was part of Russia’s daily terror campaign of drone and missile strikes against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. In recent weeks, Moscow has focused on targeting power and gas facilities ahead of winter, aiming to leave Ukrainian civilians without electricity and heating during the cold months.

According to the Ukrainian energy company DTEK, Russian forces attacked its DTEK Naftogaz energy facilities with drones and missiles overnight. The company said the strike caused a complete halt in gas extraction across Poltava Oblast.

“The enemy again attacked DTEK Naftogaz energy infrastructure with drones and missiles. As a result, the operation of gas extraction facilities in Poltava Oblast was stopped,” the company announced on its Telegram channel.

Earlier reports suggested that Russia's previous strikes destroyed 60% of Ukraine's gas production capacities before winter heating season.

Gas production in Ukraine as of 2029. SOurce: RFE/RL.

Missile launches and nationwide air alerts

Shortly after 5 a.m., Ukraine’s Air Force reported the launch of Russian Mig-31K aircraft, triggering a nationwide air alert. These jets are known carriers of Kinzhal "hypersonic" missiles capable of reaching any location in Ukraine within minutes.

The Air Force later reported “high-speed targets”—implying the Kinzhals—and then “missiles” flying toward Dnipropetrovsk Oblast’s Pavlohrad and toward Poltava.

The Mig-31K threat was lifted around 6 a.m. but was reissued at 6:19 a.m. after another launch, which monitoring channels reported as originating from the Savasleyka airfield.

Ukrainian airspace monitoring channel PPO Radar said Russia's Iskander-K cruise missiles targeted Poltava Oblast, while Kinzhal and other ballistic missiles hit Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts.

Explosions heard in several cities, Chernihiv enterprise hit

Reporters from public broadcaster Suspilne reported blasts heard in Kharkiv, Poltava, Kharkiv's Izium, Kropyvnytskyi, and Chernihiv.

By morning, the Chernihiv City Military Administration said the Russians hit a local enterprise, though there were no reports of casualties.

The Russian strike ignited a fire in Chernihiv, and debris from one of the drones landed on a household plot on the city’s outskirts, according to Chernihiv Oblast head Viacheslav Chaus.