A power plant in the Russian city of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, caught fire on Friday after a Ukrainian attack, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
A frequently attacked area
“A power station… caught fire after an attack in Belgorod,” Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram, adding that it would take “up to four hours” to activate a backup infrastructure and restore power supply.
He did not specify how many people were affected by this blackout in this city of 330,000 inhabitants which has so far rarely been attacked by Ukraine fires, unlike its region, which is attacked regularly.
Images on social media showed the moment of impact, with flames erupting across the station’s territory in a flash of light. Vyacheslav Gladkov posted photos of the flames.
The fire was brought under control shortly after 7 pm Paris time. “We will try to repair all the damage as quickly as possible,” she said.
Bombings in a Ukrainian town
Earlier, the governor reported Ukrainian shelling in 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 were destroyed by Russian air defense systems near Novy Oskol, still in the Belgorod region, according to Gladkov.
The debris from these missiles fell onto a railway track, damaging several power lines and disrupting rail traffic for a few hours, he said.
An attack on an ammunition depot
On Thursday, a Ukrainian attack had already blown up an ammunition depot in the Belgorod region. On the same day, a rocket tore off the top floor of a residential building in the city of the same name, without causing any fatalities.
A first blackout occurred this Tuesday after a Ukrainian attack on a power plant in the town of Chebekino, in the same region, which deprived 2,000 inhabitants of electricity.
And on Monday, a 74-year-old woman was killed and others wounded in a bombing in this town.
Russia denounced last week a “considerable increase” in Ukrainian fire in several Russian border regions, including Belgorod, but also Kursk and Bryansk.
Source: BFM TV
