Russia hits Naftogaz 13 times in a week as Ukraine's winter fears grow

Russia struck Naftogaz facilities 13 times in a week, causing serious damage to equipment and output. The repeated attacks deepen fears that Moscow will again target Ukraine's energy supply before winter.Russia attacked facilities of Ukraine's Naftogaz Group 13 times over the past week and has targeted its premises almost 300 times since the start of the year, the state energy company said on Monday. The latest strikes caused serious damage to equipment and production capacity, though the company said no employees were hurt.The attacks come as Russia continues to pound Ukraine's energy system, a campaign Kyiv says is aimed at making life harder for civilians during winter by cutting off light, heating and running water. Ukrainian officials, who say Russia is "weaponising winter", fear Moscow will continue the campaign in the coming winter as well.Naftogaz said Russian drones and missiles struck facilities in several regions of the country, with one asset hit multiple times during the week. The company said the repeated strikes had badly affected its equipment and output capacity.With troops on both sides largely bogged down by drones and robots along the roughly 1,250-km front line, Russia and Ukraine are expanding aerial attacks and developing new long-range weapons. Officials said on Monday that Ukrainian long-range attacks on Russia killed seven people, while four civilians died in Ukraine in strikes by Moscow's forces as authorities put together details of overnight attacks. Ukraine relied heavily on foreign military aid after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, but it has gradually increased its own firepower. On Sunday, it fired more than 800 long-range drones at Russia. Ukraine has also hit depots owned by Wildberries, Russia's main online retailer, at locations as far as 2,000 km from the Ukrainian border.Russia has also increasingly struck apartment blocks, ports, schools and hospitals, among other urban targets, with the United Nations saying close to 17,000 civilians have been killed. The UN said last week that 437 Ukrainian civilians were killed in July, 70 per cent more than in the same month in 2025, as Russian barrages intensified. Russia has taken advantage of Ukraine's severe shortage of US-made Patriot air defence interceptors, the only way to counter ballistic missiles, even as Kyiv works on its own ballistic missile and with European countries on stronger anti-ballistic air defences. With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Aug 17, 2026 17:58 IST