European gas prices rose on Thursday afternoon, when Russia attacked basic gas storage infrastructure in Ukraine in a period of increasing concern about the speed of filling European stocks, according to Reuters.

At 19:00, the Dutch TTF reference contract for the following month, rose 2.88%, negotiating at 33.14 euros.

Thursday’s rise was probably supported by the news of the Russian natural gas compression station in eastern Ukraine, which is important for storing natural gas for the winter heating season, according to an analyst.

This could increase Ukraine’s natural gas demand from neighboring countries during the winter and endanger the filling of stocks in both Ukraine and Europe, the analyst added.

The lack of specific progress in negotiations to reach a peace deal in Ukraine is likely to continue to support energy markets, Energy’s Energyscan said in a morning note.

EU gas reserves were at 74.49%, according to GAS Infrastructure Europe.

Although this is not alarming level, it is still 4.4 percentage points below the average of the decade (2015-2024) and 16 percentage points below the level of last year in the same period, said SEB’s Ole Hvalbye analyst.