Initial findings by detectives suggest that explosions near the Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhgorod natural gas pipeline this week were bombings, according to Ivano-Frankivsk region's governor.
“The preliminary information that we have suggests that they were planned explosions that aimed to damage the international gas pipeline. To date there have been 3 explosions on different parts of the pipeline. The cause of them were explosive devices planted in certain places,” a statement from the regional administration on May 15 quoted Andriy Trotsenko as saying.
After the blasts, the pipeline was put under tighter security, with forestry personnel and gamekeepers joining police and a territorial defense battalion in guarding the facility, the statement said.
“At the moment, the purpose of all our efforts is to prevent new explosions. It is our task for form a proper unit on the basis of the territorial defense battalion. It is a battalion that will be maintaining law and order on the territory of our region and will take responsibility for measures to prevent terrorist acts of this kind,” said Trotsenko.
One of the explosions took place in Rozhnyativ district on May 12 when workers were plugging a leak in the Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline. The site of the blast lay near another gas pipeline, Bohorodchany-Dolyna, which lies 30 meters from Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhgorod.
The explosion caused no damage to Bohorodchany-Dolyna, which is a high-pressure pipeline with pressure of between 50 and 54 atmospheres and a diameter of 1,400 millimeters.
The regional prosecutor’s office said the explosion might have been a terrorist attack.
