Local officials said on the Telegram messaging app that the flow of gas through the section of the Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhhorod pipeline had been cut as of 1.50pm.

Tass cited local emergency services as saying three people had died and one had been injured.

The Chuvashia regional emergencies ministry said that the pipeline had blown up during planned maintenance work near the village of Kalinino, about 150km west of the Volga city of Kazan.

It said the resulting gas flare had been extinguished.

The pipeline, built in the 1980s, enters Ukraine via the Sudzha metering point, currently the main route for Russian gas to reach Europe.

The head office of the state-owned gas producer Gazprom and its local branch did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Gazprom had said earlier on Tuesday that it expected to pump 43 million cubic metres (m3) of gas to Europe via Ukraine through Sudzha in the next 24 hours, a volume in line with recent days.