Districts in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have staged an incursion, have reportedly been left without electricity after a substation caught fire, with video footage on social media showing the aftermath of the blaze going viral.
Ukrainian troops entered the Russian region on Tuesday, reportedly capturing a number of settlements in a surprise operation, which Kyiv has remained tight-lipped about.
“A substation has been attacked in the Oktyabrsky district of Kursk region,” reported eastern European news outlet NEXTA shared on X, formerly Twitter, next to footage of the site as smoke billows into the sky. As of Saturday, the clip had been viewed over 104,000 times. Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment.
A substation has been attacked in the Oktyabrsky district of Kursk region
There is no light in Kurchatov and five other districts of the region due to a fire at a transformer substation, – the governor’s deputy Smirnov. pic.twitter.com/c7U35Z6MgI
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 9, 2024
Alexei Smirnov, acting regional governor, said a fire at a transformer substation caused by debris from a drone had cut off power to five districts and as well as Kurchatov, where the Kursk nuclear power station (KNNP) is located.
Smirnov has been posting on his Telegram channel regular rocket danger warnings for citizens to be ready to take shelter.
GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/Getty Images
Fighting is reportedly ongoing around the nuclear plant, prompting International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi to ask for “maximum restraint” from both sides.
Grossi said that two of the six nuclear reactors at the KNPP are in shutdown, while another two are fully operationa. He added that a nuclear accident at the site would have “the potential for serious radiological consequences.”
The independent Russian news outlet IStories reported on Friday that Russia is preparing to defend the power plant. Its entrances have been blocked off, and some security personnel have been withdrawn.
The speed of Ukraine’s incursion has taken Russia and Kyiv’s allies by surprise. It did get the measured backing of Germany, whose foreign ministry said in a statement that the principle of self-defense for Ukraine “is not limited to its own territory.”
Ukrainian forces have reportedly entered and now and partially control between 170 and 210 square miles of the Kursk Region. They are attacking in multiple directions, according to the X account Ukraine Battle Map, which posts regular updates of the state of the front line.
Russia has declared an anti-terrorist operation across Kursk, as well as the regions of Bryansk and Belgorod.
A video shows troops holding a Ukrainian and Georgian flag, claiming to have captured a village in the Belgorod region, just inside the border. “The 252nd battalion is in the Poroz settlement in the Belgorod region,” one of the troops says.
