Russia's strikes push Naftogaz toward American LNG, with Ukraine's storage as a potential hub
Russian attacks on Ukraine's gas production infrastructure, which destroyed up to 60% of capacity, have forced state company Naftogaz to overhaul its import strategy and turn to U.S. liquefied natural gas. Ukraine, which bought no American LNG in 2024, has become one of Europe's fastest-growing buyers of U.S. gas, and its large underground storage network near the EU border is being positioned as a distribution hub for Central and Eastern Europe.
Key points
- Ukraine purchased no American LNG in 2024 but has since become one of Europe's fastest-growing buyers of U.S. gas.
- Russian strikes in 2025 destroyed up to 60% of Ukraine's domestic gas production capacity.
- The destruction pushed Naftogaz to fundamentally revise its import strategy.
- Ukraine sits atop Europe's largest underground gas storage, over 30 billion cubic meters, much of it in the west near the EU border.
- U.S. officials back the 'Vertical Gas Corridor' running north–south through Bulgaria and Romania, alongside the 13-state Three Seas Initiative linking the Baltic, Adriatic and Black seas.
Why it matters
The pivot marks a structural shift in Ukraine's energy supply: from relying on its own production, heavily damaged by Russian attacks, to importing American LNG. Ukraine's underground storage near the EU border could turn the country into a distribution hub for U.S. gas across Central and Eastern Europe, deepening its integration into transatlantic energy flows at a moment of war.
What happened
Russia's 2025 strikes on Ukraine's gas production infrastructure destroyed up to 60% of capacity, forcing Naftogaz to fundamentally revise its import strategy. Ukraine, which bought no American LNG in 2024, has since become one of Europe's fastest-growing buyers of U.S. gas, contracting roughly 456 million cubic meters of U.S. LNG last year and 381 million cubic meters in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
Naftogaz has set up four separate import gateways for U.S. LNG: the Polish terminal at Świnoujście with Orlen, the Lithuanian terminal at Klaipėda with Ignitis, a floating terminal at Mukran in Germany, and the Greek terminal at Revithoussa. The 'Vertical Gas Corridor' route running north–south through Bulgaria and Romania enjoys firm support from the Trump administration. The 13-state Three Seas Initiative, launched during Trump's first term and linking the Baltic, Adriatic and Black seas, provides the broader infrastructure framework for delivering U.S. gas to Central and Eastern Europe.
Ukraine's underground gas storage, the largest in Europe at over 30 billion cubic meters and largely located in the country's west near the EU border, is being positioned as a hub for distributing American LNG to the region. Serhiy Fedorenko, appointed acting CEO of Naftogaz in July 2026, previously played a key role in expanding LNG imports and deepening cooperation with partners in the U.S., Poland, Lithuania and Greece.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian sources frame the pivot to U.S. LNG through the prism of Russian attacks on domestic production and the resulting strategic reorientation by Naftogaz. The story emphasizes Naftogaz's rapid build-out of import gateways across Europe and the country's potential role as a storage and transit hub, presenting the shift as both a wartime necessity and an opportunity to deepen integration with Western energy markets.
Background
Russia has been intensifying strikes on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, a backdrop against which the damage to gas production capacity and Naftogaz's strategic response must be read.