AJ
Attacks on Belgorod began on the morning of February 7, as reports from local newspaper Pepel stated that at least four direct hits were recorded on the Luch Thermal Power Station in Belgorod as a result of a Himars missile strike.
Gladkov went to the scene yesterday morning to view the damage that had been caused and report on the restoration of the substation.
As a result of the rocket strike, four people had been injured on the territory of the Luch TPP, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, noting that two of the men suffered from barotrauma and a knee joint injury, while another two had been diagnosed with barotrauma and a bruise to the temporal region.
Gladkov reported that the attack led to damage to two commercial facilities, the Luch thermal power station and another substation, 38 cars, three apartments in two multi-story buildings, and 12 private houses, while debris from a downed missile in the Maysky settlement damaged two cars and the roof of a private house was hit.
Following the attack on the Luch power station, most of the city and other districts had started to lose power, but by midday the electricity supply had been restored in some areas.
Heating was also lost in some parts of Belgorod, as residents began to get in touch with Belgorod1 and Pepel to report outages in various streets of the city initially, which eventually was revealed to be a more widespread issue.
Governor Gladkov initially refused to activate temporary heating points for residents: “We are not opening temporary heating points,” he said.
Gladkov continued: “As for the work that is currently being carried out: we are closely monitoring the ambient temperature, controlling the temperature inside residential and non-residential premises and heat carriers – I am sure that we will cope with all the existing damage.”
However, soon after Gladkov’s report, residents began sending in images or videos of fog within the stairwell to their entrance buildings due to frozen radiators after the power outage, because a pipe had burst and hot water was flooding the entrance of their building.
Several other reports were sent in to the local news channels, showing hoses in Belgorod with leaks down stairs due to burst pipes and frozen batteries, while residents reported that utility companies weren’t responding to complaints because “they’re on a day off.”
Drones went to investigate the damage caused in Belgorod, according to Pepel, noting that two Orlan fighters were killed in Gryazovoi when a drone had spotted a car in which the military personnel had been driving in at the intersection of Serik and Shukhov streets.
However, another drone then went on to attack a passenger car on Serik Street which injured a man and a woman, causing mine explosive injuries and multiple shrapnel wounds.
Following the two attacks in the Grayvoron District, Governor Dmitry Pankov stated that there had been a high activity of drones which weren’t detected by normal methods.
Pankov said: “In the village of Novostroevka-First and the city of Grayvoron [have noticed] a high activity of drones not detected by detectors on the fibre optic network – refrain from travelling – be vigilant, do not ignore alerts, leave the vehicle.”
Some power had begun to return to residents by evening, but Ukraine had been monitoring the news, as Gladkov previously suggested, knowing that the Luch TPP needed more strikes to cause any serious damage.
As day turned to night, Ukraine began firing again towards the Belgorod power stations and substations at around 8pm Moscow time, again hitting the Luch TPP as well as an electrical substation that was hit twice in the Storozhevaya Street of the city, after which, power went out in various parts of Belgorod city and nearby settlements.
Meanwhile, a Pantsir-S1 air defence system booster block landed next to the Barashek cafe in the Berega park of Belgorod, with the moment captured on CCTV and shared by local media.
Ukraine’s second wave of the evening began soon after, at which point the Governor of Belgorod stated that authorities had opened temporary heating points in the office of the United Russia party and the Belgorod City Hall due to the “increasing volume of work on restoring heat.”
Another heating point was later set up by Gladkov at the Belgorod regional government building: “You can go there to warm up, drink tea, charge your phone, and ask questions that interest you – they opened them there to give employees of the institutions a rest on weekends – from the list that was published earlier.”
Gladkov continued: “These three temporary heating points will operate all night, then from tomorrow at 9:00 the heating point in the headquarters of public support for the United Russia party will continue to operate around the clock.”
City Mayor of Belgorod stated: “In the microdistricts, where necessary, backup power generation sources are being connected to multi-apartment buildings, and this task is being carried out by our specialists in cooperation with energy companies.”
Pepel reported that not only had the Luch power plant and nearby substation been targeted, but also the Frunzenskaya power substation in the village of Dragunskoe in the Belgorod region, noting that witnesses saw several flashes, but the consequences of the attack were unknown.
Following these two waves of attacks, the power had been cut to multiple houses and streets within the Belgorod region, who were unable to get through to public services to find any information about the attacks or updates on what residents should do.
Subscribers later reported that a third wave of attacks targeted the Belgorod power substation in the area of Storozhevaya Street, noting that flashes of blue light had been seen in the direction of the substation, indicating a successful hit on the transformers.
According to Gladkov, the air defence system had worked over Belgorod and there had been no casualties, although information about the consequences were to be clarified in the morning.
AMK Mapping reported this morning that during an 8 hour period, Ukraine attacked energy infrastructure in Belgorod City at least four times, using dozens of Himars and other rockets, resulting in widespread power, heat and water outages in and around Belgorod.
According to AMK, the attacks were assisted by Ukrainian recon drones which circled the city and helped to adjust the strikes.
Ukraine successfully targeted the Belgorod Thermal Power Plant, the Luch Thermal Power Plant, the Belgorod 330kV electrical substation, and the Frunzenskaya 330kV electrical substation.
