Ukraine strikes cut power and heating in two Russian cities
Ukrainian strikes have disrupted power and heating to two major Russian cities near the border, local Russian officials have said.
A drone strike temporarily caused blackouts and cut heating to parts of Voronezh, regional governor Alexander Gusev said. He said several drones were electronically jammed during the night over the city, home to just over one million people, sparking a fire at a local utility facility that was quickly extinguished.
Russian and Ukrainian news channels on Telegram claimed the strike targeted a local thermal power plant.
A missile strike late on Saturday also caused “serious damage” to power and heating systems supplying the city of Belgorod, local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported on Sunday morning. Some 20,000 households were affected.
Belgorod has a population of around 340,000 and is the administrative centre of a region of the same name.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that its forces destroyed or intercepted 44 Ukrainian drones during the night that flew over two south-western regions, Bryansk and Rostov. The statement made no mention of either the Voronezh or Belgorod provinces, nor did it specify how many drones Ukraine launched.
Moscow and Kyiv have traded almost daily assaults on each other’s energy targets as diplomatic efforts to stop the almost four-year war have had no impact on the battlefield.
Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue the war. Russia wants to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Kyiv officials say is an attempt to “weaponise winter”.
Meanwhile, Russia’s top diplomat on Sunday signalled he is ready to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss the war in Ukraine and mending bilateral ties.
Weeks after efforts to organise a summit between the Russian and US leaders were put on ice, foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told Russia’s Ria state agency: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio and I understand the need for regular communication.”
He insisted peace cannot be achieved without “taking Russian interests into account”. He added Moscow will not drop its claim over Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula it illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
US President Donald Trump’s hesitancy in meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin has come as a relief to European leaders, who have accused the Kremlin of stalling for time with diplomacy while trying to gain ground on the battlefield.
Ukraine has repeatedly voiced readiness for the ceasefire and direct peace talks proposed by the Trump administration, while Moscow has held out for more favourable terms.
The US and Russian presidents last met in Alaska in August, but the encounter did not advance Mr Trump’s stalled attempts to end a war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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