by Mikhail Zakharov
[REGNUM] On the night of March 20-21, videos appeared on the Internet of a huge flame at the Sudzha gas measuring station (GIS), which was visible for tens of kilometers - even from Kursk.
Fortunately, there were no casualties or injuries, but the facility itself was significantly damaged. And this was not an accidental fire - the facility was deliberately hit from the Ukrainian side.
THEY TRIED TO BLAME RUSSIA
The details of the incident were soon published by the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD RF). According to our military department, the Ukrainian troops attacked the GIS at approximately midnight, and their blowing up of the facility was deliberate and purposeful.
In addition, they explained that Sudzha had been under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces since August 7, 2024, and all this time the Ukrainian side had been using the civilian facility for military purposes as one of its “safe” logistics points.
On the afternoon of March 21, it became known that the Investigative Committee of Russia (IC RF) opened a criminal case regarding the attack on the GIS, classifying the explosion as a terrorist act.
It is worth noting that the Ukrainian side, as usual, tried to shift the blame to Russia: allegedly, our troops "themselves fired" at the station in order to conduct some kind of " discrediting campaign." At least, this is what the Telegram channel of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine says.
It is Ukraine that is the obvious culprit of the explosion at the gas measuring station in Sudzha, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on March 21. “ The actions of the Kiev regime are well known to everyone from numerous media reports. Corresponding footage is also being published,” the Kremlin spokesman added, calling Kiev’s claims that Russia itself shelled the GIS “absurd.”
THERE WILL BE NO TRANSIT
The Sudzha GIS is located right on the border of the Kursk region with the Sumy region of Ukraine. Until recently, a large — and the only after May 2022 — corridor for Russian gas supplies to Europe passed through it. Back in October last year, it was reported that Gazprom was supplying 42.1 million cubic meters of blue fuel per day through the Sudzha gas metering equipment.
However, from January 1, 2025, the transit was stopped, because the application for it was zero, as evidenced by the data of the operator of the Ukrainian GTS. At the same time, the pipe was under pressure, it contained gas that remained after the suspension of transportation - it burned with that same bright torch as a result of the attack.
Experts have already begun assessing the consequences of this terrorist attack, but it is still unclear how soon the facility will be repaired — and how recoverable it is. In a commentary for IA Regnum, Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation and the National Energy Security Fund, notes that the GIS could have been repaired. According to him, the night fire occurred on the linear part of the gas pipelines, which is relatively easy to repair.
"It would be possible to simply replace the damaged sections within a few weeks. Like when there are gas pipeline ruptures, accidents, the linear part is replaced. If only there was a desire," the expert says. However, there are other, less optimistic opinions of specialists, and it is too early to name specific dates.
But it is unlikely that there is much interest in repairing the GIS, Yushkov believes: Russia does not need this measuring station for domestic gas supply, and Ukraine does not intend to pump gas through this gas pipeline.
But why then did Kyiv need to destroy the gas infrastructure?
According to Igor Yushkov, this, on the one hand, could be a signal from Slovakia and Hungary, which are demanding that Ukraine resume gas transit, threatening either not to extend Russian sanctions at the EU level or to block European aid to Ukraine from Kyiv.
However, it is significant that Ukraine is blowing up energy infrastructure after literally the day before it declared that it also supported the idea of stopping strikes on such facilities, he notes.
According to the expert, Zelensky's team does not benefit from stopping the military actions; they benefit from the current situation, when the US and the Europeans " have had a bit of a falling out ". It turns out that Ukraine, on the one hand, can constantly make promises to the Americans, continuing to receive aid from them, and on the other, ask Europe for more aid - after all, the US allegedly abandoned Kiev.
“Plus, you can also blame Russia for this, saying that it was Russia itself that blew up the gas pipeline, that it was a provocation on the part of Russia, and so on,” Yushkov continues, speaking about the reasons for the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ strike on Sudzha. “And, accordingly, you kind of pushed all this onto Russia, and on the other hand, you kind of disrupted the peace talks.”
A number of experts also express the opinion that the attack on Sudzha could have been carried out by radicals from the national battalions who refused to obey the Kyiv authorities, in particular the remaining core of Azov*, which currently staffs a number of Ukrainian units. It is no secret that the nationalists who got out of hand often acted at their own discretion, not listening to direct orders from Kyiv politicians.
What these Ukrainian “irreconcilables” are like is well known to the Americans, who have no illusions about the ability of this “contingent” to negotiate.
After all, it was during Trump's last term that the Americans officially recognized Azov* as extremists, terrorists, and even anti-Semites. And before the start of the SVO, all contacts with Azov were prohibited for American official bodies. The situation changed in 2022.
Since then, Azov has already been disbanded, but its core remains "in business." Zelensky plans to appoint the certified Nazi, Azov commander Andriy Biletsky, as commander of the 3rd Army Corps. Another National Battalion member, Denis Prokopenko, is about to be appointed commander of the 12th Army Corps of the National Guard.
This nationalist elite does not care a fig about the higher command and may well act in its own interests. Which, however, does not change the state of affairs that Russia is talking about: Kyiv cannot be trusted. And it is absolutely unimportant whether the undermining of "Suja" was sanctioned from above, or whether it was the result of arbitrary action by individual units.
THE POLITICAL DIMENSION OF SUJA
Indeed, the attack on Sudzha occurred at a time when the leaders of Russia and the United States are actively working together to peacefully resolve the Ukrainian crisis. Let us recall that after a conversation with the head of the White House Donald Trump on March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave our military an order to immediately cease any strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities for 30 days.
It should be noted that earlier, despite all assurances from Kiev about the desire to cease fire, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked an oil depot near the village of Kavkazskaya in Krasnodar Krai on the night of March 19, just a few hours after Putin and Trump spoke. The attack caused a major fire at the energy infrastructure facility.
As Dmitry Peskov stated on March 21, the Kiev regime’s attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, including the blowing up of the Sudzha GIS, clearly demonstrate the price of assurances from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his team about Kiev’s desire for peace.
"Therefore, everyone can see how much one can trust Zelensky's word and the word of other representatives of the Kiev regime," Peskov noted. "This, by the way, is something we have repeatedly warned our interlocutors about."
Our military department also said that what happened at the GIS was a deliberate provocation by Kiev. “ It should be considered in the general series of recent strikes on the energy infrastructure of the Russian Federation in order to discredit the peace initiatives of the US President,” the Russian Defense Ministry explained.
According to the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, the Kiev regime has already violated the ceasefire proposed by the US with the attack on Sudzha. Now, the diplomat says, the question is how Washington will continue to manage the " crazed terrorist scum."
And another question remains: how in such a situation can Moscow in principle agree on anything with the Kiev regime, be it a cessation of strikes on energy facilities or a ceasefire? After all, Ukraine, even against the backdrop of an agreement to refrain from strikes on energy, is deliberately destroying infrastructure, and is also trying to present this as an " example of Russia's inability to negotiate."
THE FATE OF PEACE TALKS
As political scientist Dmitry Solonnikov said in an interview with IA Regnum, Kiev and the Western countries that support it have never taken any positive steps towards a real settlement of the military conflict, and the idea of limiting strikes is the Russian position.
“The task of Western Europe, Ukraine – now the US has left this coalition, but there are also supporters of this in the US – is to inflict a military defeat on Russia, if not now, then after some time,” says Solonnikov.
According to the expert, if the agreement that the United States is talking about is signed - and it is primarily needed by the United States and needed by Ukraine as a respite in the conflict - then after signing, the parties will most likely adhere to it.
“Again, not excluding frequent provocations, as is happening now on the border of Azerbaijan and Armenia - despite the fact that military actions have ended and a peace treaty is being prepared, but shelling occurs periodically,” our interlocutor adds.
Until nothing is signed, Solonnikov notes, Ukraine will continue to conduct full-scale military operations against infrastructure inside Russia and in the border area. “Everything will continue as it was. Their position is to force a ceasefire, to demonstrate their capabilities to Russia, and no one has changed this scenario,” the expert continues.
"And then, if we talk about signing agreements, it is a question of pressure from the United States on both sides, both Russian and Ukrainian. As Donald Trump has already said, if our position is not agreed upon, we will apply the most severe sanctions," Dmitry Solonnikov sums up. "In fact, they can apply the most severe sanctions to both Ukraine and Russia if their position is not agreed upon. Therefore, they will continue to push."
The US response to Ukraine's ongoing strikes on Russian energy facilities should clearly demonstrate how likely President Trump's peace initiatives really are to be realized.