Ukrainian forces are continuing their advance in the east and south of the country. The Russian services identify more and more strikes on their territory, like this Friday, in Belgorod. “An electric station (…) caught fire after a strike on Belgorod,” Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram, adding that it would take “up to four hours” to activate a reserve infrastructure and restore the electricity supply.
The governor of the region bordering Ukraine did not specify how many people were affected by this blackout in this city of 330,000 inhabitants. Until now, it had only rarely been hit by fire from Ukraine, unlike its region, which is regularly targeted.
Footage on social media showed the moment of impact, with flames bursting across the station’s territory in a flash of light. Vyacheslav Gladkov released photos of the flames. The fire was brought under control shortly after 5 p.m. local time. “We will try to repair all the damage as quickly as possible,” he assured.
Earlier, the governor reported Ukrainian shelling on the village of Voznessenovka in the Belgorod region, which damaged five houses and a power line. In the morning, several missiles fired by Ukrainian forces had been destroyed by Russian air defense systems near Novy Oskol, still in the Belgorod region, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov.
Another substation already targeted on Tuesday
The remnants of these missiles fell on a railway track, damaging several power lines and disrupting railway traffic for a few hours, he said. On Thursday, a Ukrainian strike had already blown up an ammunition depot in the Belgorod region. The same day, a rocket ripped open the top floor of a residential building in the city of the same name, without causing any casualties.
A first power outage occurred on Tuesday after a Ukrainian strike on a power station in the town of Chebekino, in the same region, depriving 2,000 inhabitants of electricity. Monday, a 74-year-old woman was killed and other people injured in a bombardment on this locality.
Russia had denounced last week a “considerable increase” in Ukrainian fire on several Russian border regions, including that of Belgorod, but also that of Kursk and Briansk.