A Ukrainian strike on a thermal power plant near the Russian city of Belgorod triggered widespread outages across Belgorod Oblast.
Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said missile attacks targeted the Belgorod Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant and the Luch substation, damaging critical infrastructure and causing “significant power outages.”
Total blackout in the Western Russian city of Belgorod, which has a population of around 339,978. pic.twitter.com/85vo65At5U
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) September 28, 2025
Major power and service outages tonight across the Western Russian city of Belgorod, following a drone and/or missile attack by Ukraine against the Luch Thermal Power Station, likely in response to last night’s large-scale attack by Russia against homes and other civilian targets… pic.twitter.com/OX1UUccuLJ
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) September 28, 2025
Aside from Belgorod, blackouts were reported in nearby towns, including Stary Oskol, Gubkin and Shebekino.
Russian channels attributed Sunday’s attack to U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) rockets, though Ukraine has not commented and details remain unverified.
HIMARS has a range of around 70 kilometers and allows for precision strikes against enemy positions.
The Belgorod CHP provides about a third of the city’s heating and was modernized in 2007 with a General Electric LM2500+ DLE turbine, bringing capacity to 60 megawatts.
The strike followed Russia’s largest attacks of the war the previous night, when it launched more than 500 drones and 40 missiles at Ukraine, killing four people including a 12-year-old girl.
