BRUSSELS. Jan 16 (Interfax) - The European Commission (EC) has been informed about a Russian military strike on a natural-gas storage facility in western Ukraine but for now sees no threat to the European Union's gas supply, EC spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen told a briefing in Brussels on Thursday.
"We are in continuous contact with Ukraine and in talks to assess the precise extent of the damage but also any indications to security of supply situation in Ukraine. According to our latest information that we have on this, there are no immediate risks for the EU security of gas supply. We continue to very closely monitor the situation, including with the Energy Community Secretariat," Itkonen said.
"The Ukrainian energy system is under extraordinary pressure following the surgical relentless attacking by Russian armed forces," she said.
"The EU is ready and prepared to help, and we continue to stand by the Ukrainian people and we continue to offer unprecedented amount of support," she said.
A group strike on January 15 had resulted in the destruction of the overland infrastructure of an underground gas storage facility in Stryi, Lvov region, Ukraine, Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The strike was carried out in the morning by Russia's Armed Forces using high precision weapons against Ukraine's critical gas energy infrastructure, the statement said.
That was a response to Ukraine's cross-border strikes deep into Russia with U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and British-made Storm Shadow missiles and attempt to attack the Russkaya compressor station in Russia's Krasnodar Territory aimed at disrupting gas supply through the TurkStream pipeline, it said.