AJ
Residents of the Oryol region began to report explosions on the night of October 31, and videos captured at the time appeared to show that the local CHP was hit.
A short while later the regional head of Oryol confirmed an attack on the Orlovskaya CHP, less than a kilometre from the defence enterprise Oreltelmash, which produces mobile technical maintenance, repair and evacuation equipment for the military.
According to the head of the region, there was damage caused to the power supply equipment at the power plant as a result of falling debris from the shooting down of a drone, adding that there were no casualties or fires at the facility, and that all residents who had lost power had their connections restored.
Prior to the attack there was a missile attack warning issued by the governor, while residents reported in local chats that “these were not drones” flying over the region.
Surveillance camera footage showed two strikes on the CHP – at 2 seconds and at 23 seconds respectively, and according to OSINT analysis data, the first strike hit the CHP’s switchyard (open switchgear) which is the open part of the electrical substation or power unit where electricity is received, distributed, and transmitted from the station’s generators to the power lines – after this, the city lost power.
Orlovskaya CHP is the largest generating source of electricity and heat in the region, providing both electricity and heat supply to residents and businesses.
According to the Ukrainian Navy, the facilities supplied power to military enterprises in the region, so putting them out of operation would be a serious blow to the occupiers’ logistics.
Overall, 9 drones were destroyed over the territory of Oryol, according to Russian MoD.
