Ukrainian strikes cause blackout in western Russia – governor

Nearly 40,000 people in the Belgorod region have been left without power

Ukrainian strikes have caused a massive blackout in Russia’s western Belgorod region, Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov has said.

Nearly 40,000 residents were left without power as of Sunday evening, while hospitals switched to generators, the governor wrote on Telegram.

He said earlier that at least three people, including a 10-year-old boy, were injured in Ukrainian drone attacks over the past 24 hours.

Ukrainian officials reported blackouts in the city of Lviv, near the border with Poland, on Sunday, and said that four civilians were killed in Russian strikes.

The Russian Defense Ministry later released a statement saying that it had targeted weapons factories and “the energy infrastructure supporting their operations.” Moscow maintains that its forces do not target civilians.

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Russia began regularly striking Ukraine’s energy sites in the fall of 2022. President Vladimir Putin said at the time that the army had focused on energy infrastructure after Ukraine bombed the Crimean Bridge in October that year, killing four people.