A series of explosions early on Monday, Sept. 8, knocked out key gas pipelines in the Russian city of Penza, disrupting infrastructure that supplied military facilities, Ukrainian intelligence sources told Kyiv Post.
At least four blasts rocked the Zheleznodorozhny district of Penza around 4 a.m., damaging two mainline gas conduits with a combined capacity of up to two million barrels per day, according to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR). The sources said two additional regional pipelines at the same site were also hit.
Penza lies about 625 kilometers (388 miles) southeast of Moscow in Russia’s Volga region, a major industrial hub connected to key energy transit routes.
Kyiv Post has not been able to independently verify the explosions.
Within hours, local media in Penza published reports claiming that the incidents were part of “planned exercises” involving emergency and security services. Officials urged residents to remain calm and ignore messages circulating on social media about explosions.
The damaged pipelines supplied Russian military sites involved in Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, HUR sources added.
Russian authorities have not publicly acknowledged the blasts, and independent confirmation of the extent of the damage was not immediately available.
And in addition, another strike was reported overnight in Russia’s Saratov region.Around 1 a.m. local time on Sept. 8, a powerful explosion hit the Kuibyshev–Lysychansk trunk oil pipeline in the Krasnoarmeysky district, according to sources in HUR.
The conduit, with an annual capacity of 82 million tons, supplied fuel to Russia’s occupying forces. Local social media accounts said workers were deployed to the site in the morning to repair the damage.
It marked the third oil and gas infrastructure facility in Russia disabled within 24 hours, following blasts that struck pipelines in the Penza region. As in previous cases, Russian media described the incident as part of “planned exercises.”
The Penza blasts follow a string of earlier Ukrainian intelligence operations targeting Russia’s energy infrastructure.
On Aug. 13, Ukrainian kamikaze drones struck the Unecha oil pumping station in Russia’s Bryansk region, a major hub of the Druzhba pipeline system owned by Transnefteprodukt. According to Kyiv Post’s sources in HUR, the raid was conducted jointly with other Ukrainian defense units.
Local reports said a series of explosions was followed by a large fire, prompting Russian emergency services to respond. Unecha lies just 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Ukrainian border and serves as the largest node of the Druzhba network, which spans some 9,000 kilometers (5,592 miles) and supplies fuel critical to Russia’s military-industrial complex.
On Monday Kyiv Post reported that explosions struck a Russian National Guard unit near Khabarovsk on Sept. 8, killing and injuring servicemen from a battalion accused of committing war crimes in Ukraine’s Kyiv region, according to Kyiv Post Ukrainian intelligence sources.
The blasts occurred around 9 a.m. in the parking lot of Military Unit 6912 as troops were arriving for duty, HUR said. Two explosive devices detonated in succession, leaving casualties among the personnel.