Explosions, missile strikes and drone attacks have turned parts of western and southern Russia into a patchwork of darkness, with major cities reporting sudden blackouts and damaged energy infrastructure. In Belgorod, Taganrog and Perm, residents have watched lights flicker out and heating systems fail as the war that Russia is waging in Ukraine increasingly boomerangs back across the border. The result is a new and volatile front in the conflict, fought not only with artillery and drones but with power plants, transformer yards and fragile grids.
The pattern is clearest in Belgorod, where repeated strikes on energy facilities have left hundreds of thousands of civilians without basic services and exposed how vulnerable Russia’s own infrastructure has become. Similar incidents in Taganrog and other regional centers show that what began as isolated blasts is hardening into a campaign that targets the systems keeping Russian cities warm and lit in midwinter.
Belgorod’s cascading energy crisis
The city of Belgorod, just across the border from Ukraine, has become the most striking example of how quickly a modern city can be pushed into darkness. Earlier this month, the Governor of Russia’s Belgorod Region Says that 600,000 people were Without Power, Heat, Water After Ukrainian Strike, a figure that underlines the scale of the disruption. Follow up reporting By Anastasia Tenisheva described how Belgorod and surrounding districts struggled to restore electricity in parts of the region, even as temperatures stayed below freezing.
Those mass outages did not come out of nowhere. Russian Belgorod had already been plunged into a total blackout after massive missile strikes, with reports describing how Russian Belgorod and nearby towns like Korocha, Dubovoye and Severny lost power On Sunday evening after a concentrated barrage. More recently, social media videos captured what appeared to be the moment the thermal power station of Belgorod, Russia, was hit by Ukrainian GMLRS, with the clip ending in an abrupt blackout across the skyline, a scene echoed in another post showing Belgorod going dark after Ukrainian GMLRS struck. These images match local accounts of Explosions heard in Belgorod that caused damage to energy facilities and suggested a hit on a major power plant was likely, as detailed in reports on Explosions in the Russian city.
The intensity of the latest strikes has been stark. One widely shared video described how Belgorod, Russia is having a brutal night with over 50 explosions reported, likely the heaviest strike on the city so far, with Parts of the city losing power almost immediately. A separate account echoed that Belgorod, Russia, is having a rough night with over 50 blasts and Power out in multiple districts, a description repeated in another clip that stressed Belgorod, Russia, is having a rough night with over 50 detonations as the grid failed. For residents, the effect is not abstract: Russia’s Belgorod is now experiencing the power and heat outages that Russian forces have long inflicted on neighboring Ukraine, a reversal captured in analysis of how Russia’s Belgorod now mirrors the suffering of Ukraine just 25 miles away.
Taganrog, Oryol and the widening map of strikes
Belgorod is not alone. The coastal city of Taganrog, sitting about 40 kilometers east of the Ukrainian border on the Sea of Azov, has also been pulled into the energy war. Russian officials such as Yuri Slyusar confirmed an attack on Taganrog, describing how the city, about 40 kilometers from Ukrainian territory, was hit amid a broader Russian strike on Ukraine’s own grid. Ukrainian sources, including Iryna Balachuk, highlighted a Fire in Taganrog as a result of a drone attack, sharing a Screenshot from a video by Astra that showed flames at what was described as a facility linked to Orion UAVs and FPV drones, as detailed in coverage of Fire at the plant.
The vulnerability of Taganrog’s grid was already clear from an earlier incident. In the morning of 9 November 2025, In the city an explosion and subsequent fire occurred at a 110 kV transformer substation in Taganrog, Russi, an event that knocked out power and sent plumes of smoke over residential districts. Local authorities later said there were no injuries, the fire had been localized and power supply was expected to be restored in the near term, with the return of electricity estimated at about two hours, according to Local officials. Together with newer drone strikes on military and aircraft repair plants, these incidents show how Taganrog has shifted from a rear logistics hub to a frontline target.
Further north, the city of Oryol has also been hit. Missile Strikes Trigger Blackouts in Russia’s Belgorod, Oryol, Reports Say, with Russian media describing how both regions suffered sudden outages and disruptions to water supply following the alleged strike, as summarized in accounts of Missile Strikes Trigger. Separate coverage of the same events stressed that Missile Strikes Trigger Blackouts in Russia’s Belgorod, Oryol, Reports Say, again underscoring that Oryol is now part of the same contested energy belt as Belgorod. For residents of these cities, the war is no longer something that happens only across the border, it is arriving in the form of sudden blackouts and the hum of generators.
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