AJ
The weekend of hell in Belgorod included a night of more than 40 explosions from 30 MLRS and other missiles, according to reports from various sources.
During the day of January 24 there were 12 populated areas of the region that were potentially targeting different infrastructure facilities.
Starting with the Shebekino district, damage was recorded to a gazelle when a drone detonated on the roadway in Shebekino, while the governor confirmed the information about an attack on a school in the village of Bolshitroitskoe, causing damage to the windows, facade, entrance group, as well as three nearby cars and an infrastructure object, and a moving minibus was damaged by a drone strike in the village of Meshkovoe.
Windows of private houses were damaged along with a roof of an outbuilding as a result of a drone explosion in the village of Borki in the Valuyki district, while a neighbouring fence was also damaged.
In Grayvoron a parked bus caught fire during a drone attack, along with a car, the roofs of a private house and two outbuildings as a result of a drone strike in the village of Novostroevka-First, and a car was attacked by a drone in the village of Lugovka which damaged the windshield.
Damage was caused to the fence of a private house in the Octobersky settlement of the Belgorod district, while three outbuildings in a private house burned down following two drone strikes in the Malinovka settlement.
A drone explosion caused damage to a private house in the village of Zouli in the Borisovsky district, while a second drone attacked a gas station leaving the gas supply unavailable in part of the village of Novoalexandrovka.
Finally, a private house was damaged by a drone strike in the village of Repyakhovka in the Krasnoyaruzhsky district.
Later in the evening, Belgorod city Mayor Valentin Demidov reported that Ukraine had carried out a massive missile strike on Belgorod, while local channels reported more than 30 missiles incoming, and more than 40 explosions recorded.
As a result of the attack, critical infrastructure objects were damaged, a fire broke out in the courtyard of a multi-story building in Khargor, which was promptly extinguished, and a car that was parked nearby was moved away from the scene, while a household building in the private sector was damaged as a result of a fire.
Following the missile strike, Mayor Demidov stated that the pumps of the booster pumping station, which provided heat to several houses in Khargora had stopped working, but emergency crews were restoring supply and aimed to restart the equipment within 30 minutes.
According to OSINTer AMK Mapping, Ukraine used 36 Grad rockets and at least 18 HIMARS rockets, targeting the energy infrastructure in Belgorod, noting that the majority of the rockets were shot down, but some impacts were recorded at the Belgorod Thermal Power Plant, resulting in power outages in the city.
However, as of the morning, the electricity supply had been fully restored, but there were still some disruptions with water in some parts of the city, and there were no injured civilians, reported AMK.
Local channel Pepel initially showed videos of a rocket attack on Belgorod, with falling debris from downed missiles burning in one of the courtyards of a building on Gubkin Street, and soon after, reported that there was a power outage in the Dubovoe settlement, most likely as a result of several strikes being carried out at the TPP.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov first reported the city was under attack by HIMARS, but it was later revealed to be MLRS Grad shells, although the strike on the Belgorod TPP could have been carried out by HIMARS, later disputed by Ukraine who claimed 4 Flamingo missiles had reached their target.
“There are damages to energy facilities,” stated Gladkov, noting that: “As a result of the attack, an outbuilding caught fire. As a result of the fall of debris, there was a fire on one of the city’s courtyards,” while Pepel confirmed that the roofs of two private houses were damaged by falling debris in the village of Tavrovo.
Videos were published showing several girls unable to take shelter in a multi-story building in the Luch microdistrict, as they tried to enter the entrance of a residential building, but the door, which should automatically open in the event of a missile threat, somehow appeared locks, however, after several attempts to call the apartments to ask for entry, the girls finally managed to get in the building.
After the missile strike on the TPP, heating was lost in some areas of Belgorod and Stroitel, reported Pepel, noting that an hour after the bombardment, residents of several streets on Kharkovskaya Gora began reporting a lack of heat, likely due to the failed heating pumps noted by Mayor Valentin Demidov earlier.
Residents of Victory Street, Konev Street and Zhukov Street in Stroitel were also reporting a lack of heating, as local residents were informed that the outage was due to a sudden power surge, and they promised the heating would be restored within an hour.
Governor Gladkov later commented on the outages in Stroitel, noting that a rupture had occurred in the pipes, but “under the leadership of Leg Alexandrovich Medvedev, the head of the district, all necessary measures were taken, and more precisely, they are ending, and I hope the population hardly noticed this incident.”
According to Gladkov, the authorities had already prepared generators in case of an emergency situation, with at least 5 thousand generators in reserve, which need to be serviced.
“We are trying to predict negative events and building a system of measures to neutralize them. For example, more than 5 thousand generators are now in the Belgorod region, and we understand that in the event of a time ‘X’, if God forbid it happens, there will be a large amount of work done on refuelling, servicing, cleaning equipment, and refuelling with oil,” Gladkov said.
Gladkov added: “All this will be done with budget money, so it’s important to keep track of consumables – with the wrong approach, we could face major complaints from law enforcement agencies.”
Later in the day, Governor Gladkov confirmed that there was damage to the energy facilities in Belgorod, presumably as a result of HIMARS, while monitoring channels reported that this was the most powerful attack by Ukraine, reporting more than 50 explosions in the city.
Gladkov stated that huge damage could have been inflicted to the energy sector due to the strike, but it was prevented thanks to the military, noting that restoration work was ongoing at the energy facilities, but full information couldn’t be provided, as “this would arm the enemy, and the subsequent damage could be much more serious.”
Having analysed footage, OSINT analysts CyberBoroshno and Ukrainian Telegram channel ExileNova+ believe that Ukraine launched a strike with Flamingo missiles on the Skif-M enterprise, which is involved in the production of Su-34 fighter bombers and other aircraft.
According to OSINT analysts, the strike occurred on September 23, 2025, leaving the company unable to resume production, and Pepel reported about a strike on a milling plant at the same location on the same day.
Published satellite images showed that several workshops on the plant’s territory were significantly damaged after the strike, and the roofs of the buildings had been pierced, as a Ukrainian reconnaissance drone captured the strike on camera and helped to adjust the strikes.
While the outages were the main topic of the day, Ukraine continued to send drones over the region, including the village of Krasnaya Yaruga, where three people were injured, including a child, when a drone exploded near a private house damaging the facade, window, and two nearby cars.
During the explosion, a man received a non-penetrating shrapnel wound to the abdomen, and a woman and a five-year-old boy suffered from barotrauma.
Multiple power outage reports from residents began to flood into Pepel throughout the evening of Sunday January 25, with the Belgorod district mainly being affected, with further residents updating Pepel throughout the morning.
Videos showed the power had gone out in the village of Yakovlevo, and residents noted the lights on the M-2 Crimea highway up to the border with the Kursk region had completely disappeared.
However, information began to circulate on Telegram channels noting that a decision of the operational headquarters had ordered repairs on the power grid, so the districts of Krasnoyarushsky, Rakitinsky, Ivnyansky, Borisovsky, Grayvoronsky, Yakovlevsky, and Belgorod were suffering short term outages, but an update later in the morning said that the power had been completely restored.
During the morning of January 26, a drone attacked a forage truck in the village of Golovchino in the Grayvoron district, according to Pepel, noting that the drone flew under the car trailer and detonated, but no one was injured.
Soon after, images began to surface of air defence systems in operation over the skies of the village of Tavrovo, as residents reported that a drone had been shot down, and a drone also reportedly attacked a multi-story building on 70th Anniversary of October Street in the village of Oktyabrsky in the Belgorod region.
Air defences continued to operate at least three times due to MLRS attacks directed towards Belgorod on the morning of January 26, as Ukraine continued to relentlessly target the border region in retaliation for the large missile strike on Kyiv.
