Russia: Power outages in villages in Rostov region following Ukrainian attack

Moscow -- Russian authorities accused Ukraine on Sunday of targeting a substation in Russia’s Rostov region with drones, causing damage to an electrical transformer and cutting power to three rural settlements in the region. Rostov Governor Yuri Slyusar said in a press statement that an aerial attack and drone debris falling in the Myrnohrad area damaged a transformer and sparked a fire at the Solnechna substation, with power outages affecting the rural settlements of Solnechnske, Voloshynske, and Titovske. He confirmed no casualties were reported.

The Russian news agency Don 24 quoted regional authorities as saying air defense systems shot down Ukrainian drones in the Myrnohrad and Tarasovka areas while repelling the attack, noting that information on the attack’s results and damage was still being updated.

In a related development, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 142 Ukrainian drones overnight over several Russian regions, including Rostov, Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk, Kaluga, Tula, Oryol, and Voronezh, as well as the Moscow region, the Crimean Peninsula, and waters of the Sea of Azov.

The Russian newspaper Kommersant quoted the ministry as saying the strikes targeted a 330-kilovolt substation in the Dnipropetrovsk area, noting that the facility supplied electricity to Ukrainian military-industrial plants. The ministry added that its forces struck two ships carrying supplies for Ukrainian forces: a container ship in the port of Chornomorsk in Odesa region and a cargo ship in the Black Sea southwest of Odesa, which it said were carrying weapons, military equipment, and dual-use cargo.

The Russian Defense Ministry had previously announced a large-scale attack using precision-guided weapons and long-range attack drones targeting military-industrial, energy, and transport facilities in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and its region. According to the Russian news agency TASS, the targeted facilities were linked to meeting the needs of the Ukrainian armed forces.

Russian media reports indicated that the strikes included the Severnaya power plant in the Novy Petrivtsi area of Kyiv region and a fuel truck parking site in the Irpin area, which the ministry said was used to deliver fuel to Ukrainian military units.

In response, Ukrainian officials told agencies that Russian missile and drone strikes caused significant damage to energy facilities around Kyiv, affecting electricity, heating, and water supplies, and damaging the North Bridge over the Dnipro River.

These developments come amid ongoing aerial exchanges between Russia and Ukraine and an escalation in strikes on each side’s energy and critical infrastructure, which have become one of the main fronts of the military confrontation between Moscow and Kyiv since the war began in February 2022. (End) Dan / T.A.B