But the very possibility of a ukrainian defeat is now being discussed openly. let me kick things off tonight by showing you the front line and how it is evolving. the ukrainians withdrew from this eastern town of avdikka in february and since then, russia has been focusing attacks around the villages in the southern zaporizhzhia region where ukraine made gains in 2023. there is intense fighting around donetsk also a large concentration of russian troops across the border from kharkiv, ukraine s second largest city. where russia has been using glide bombs for the first time. in fact the lack of anti aircraft missiles has exposed all ukrainian front line units to renewed russian attacks, they are now dropping thousands of bombs on defensive positions for the first time in this war. elsewhere russia has started inflicting far more permanent damage on ukraine s energy system, not only taking out generating stations this is the bombed out ruin of the trypilska thermal power plant but
Moscow is already heavily bombarding Ukrainian energy infrastructure, while Kyiv is continuing a campaign of drone strikes against Russian oil refineries.
Ukraine is seeking to reassure European natural gas traders that its ground storage facilities are safe, despite the recent Russian attack. Source: Bloomberg Details: Roman Maliutin, chief executive officer of gas storage operator Ukrtransgaz JSC, said that Ukraine expects to bring in 4 billion cubic metres of gas during the summer months, which is more than last year.
The facility, operated by Naftogaz’s subsidiary Ukrtransgaz, will require repairs to its surface infrastructure, but the attack did not impede its operations due to the gas being stored deep underground, Naftogaz CEO Oleksiy Chernyshov noted.
Spain s consumption of natural gas dropped for the second year in a row in 2023, falling almost 11% as the country used more renewable sources to produce electricity.