On the night of July 4th, the Russian border city of Belgorod and the surrounding region came under another powerful airstrike by Ukraine.
At around 11:35 p.m. local time, missile sirens were sounded in the city, followed by a series of loud explosions and intense air defense systems.
Acting Governor of Belgorod Region Alexander Shuvaev made an official statement on social media confirming the scale of the strikes. He said that serious material damage had been caused to key infrastructure, resulting in complete power and water outages in a number of municipalities and urban areas. Fires broke out on the territory of several of the affected energy facilities, and emergency teams and firefighters were immediately dispatched to the sites. According to preliminary data from the authorities, there is no information about civilian casualties or injuries at this time.
Local sources and OSINT analysts report that the strikes were directed simultaneously at the main substations of the city. Among the confirmed targets are the Luch TPP and a key 110 kV electrical substation located in the Kharkovskaya Gora area, which has been plunged into complete darkness. Belgorod Mayor Valentin Demidov added that in addition to the energy failures, the shelling also caused a fire at the municipal solid waste landfill near the city. Material damage to commercial buildings and at least six cars was also reported.
This attack comes less than a day after another heavy strike on Belgorod in the early hours of July 3, which killed one woman and hit the Michurinskaya thermal power plant. The escalation in the Russian border regions in recent days comes immediately after the massive Russian airstrike on the Ukrainian capital Kiev on July 2, which killed dozens of people. Authorities in Belgorod say that the full extent of the damage from the midnight attack will only be assessed after daylight.
Sources: Interfax, RBC-Ukraine, The Kyiv Independent, URA.RU.