KYIV, Jan 10 – At least 3,500 households in Poltava region lost natural gas supplies on Saturday after an explosion had destroyed a 30-meter section of a major gas pipeline, GTSOU state gas shipper reported.

The Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline moves Russian gas to European markets, but European transit was not affected as Ukraine had tapped its reserves at the border with the European Union to increase supplies.