Ukraine reportedly hits power station in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, oil depot in occupied Luhansk

Editor’s note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

Ukraine reportedly launched overnight strikes on Feb. 27, hitting a thermal power station in Belgorod Oblast and an oil depot in occupied Luhansk, according to Russian officials and eyewitness footage posted to social media.

High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) struck the regional center of Belgorod, the Telegram news channel Exilinova-Plus reported, citing local residents. The attacks left parts of the city without power.

Belgorod is located just 34 kilometers (21 miles) from Ukraine’s northeastern border with Russia.

The local Telegram channel Pepel reported that the strike hit the Belgorod Thermal Power Plant.  Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov later announced that a “massive missile attack” had targeted energy infrastructure in the city and surrounding region.

“Serious damage has been caused to energy infrastructure facilities. As a result, there have been power outages, water supply disruptions, and heating failures,” Gladkov said.

The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims at the time of publication.

The same night, Exilenova-Plus shared photos and footage of an oil depot outlet in flames in Russian-occupied Luhansk. Local residents reported that a fire erupted at the facility following a series of explosions at the site.

The city has been occupied by Russian forces since 2014.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported that 95 Ukrainian drones were shot down across various regions of the country overnight.

Ukraine regularly strikes military infrastructure deep within Russia and occupied territories in an effort to diminish Moscow’s fighting power as the Kremlin wages its war against Ukraine.

Kyiv considers oil facilities to be valid military targets as they directly fund Russia’s war.

Russia has also been waging an intensely destructive assault against Ukraine’s power grid throughout fall and winter, leaving thousands across the country without heat and electricity during the coldest winter of the full-scale war

Belgorod has been struck repeatedly in recent weeks. On Feb. 23, Gladkov claimed the city came under missile attack, leaving disruptions to electricity, water, and heating after damage to energy facilities.

Late on Feb. 18, Russian authorities claimed that a “massive missile attack on energy facilities” in the city left parts of Belgorod without electricity and heating.

Explosions and fires were reported overnight on Feb. 19 at an oil depot in the town of Velikiye Luki in northwestern Russia’s Pskov Oblast, according to Telegram news channel Exilenova+.

A source from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) later told the Kyiv Independent that the attack on the oil depot in Velikiye Luki was the work of their “Alpha” unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) unit, which managed to make their way through the anti-drone nets spread over the facility.

“Such operations are an element of systematic weakening of the military potential of the Russian Federation,” the SBU source wrote in a statement.