Ukrainian strikes disrupted power and heating to two major Russian cities near the Ukrainian border, local Russian officials reported Sunday.
According to The Associated Press, the report comes as Russia and Ukraine have traded almost daily assaults on each other’s energy infrastructure while U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to end the nearly four-year war remain stalled.
Ukraine’s top diplomat accused Moscow of deliberately endangering nuclear safety after Russia’s mass drone and missile attack on Friday struck substations powering two nuclear plants.
A drone strike temporarily caused blackouts and heating loss in parts of Voronezh, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said. He reported that several drones were electronically jammed during the night, sparking a fire at a local utility facility that was quickly extinguished. Russian and Ukrainian news channels claimed the strike targeted a thermal power plant.
In Belgorod, a missile strike late Saturday caused “serious damage” to power and heating systems serving the city, affecting about 20,000 households, according to regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov.
Russia’s defense ministry said its forces destroyed or intercepted 44 Ukrainian drones overnight in the Bryansk and Rostov regions but did not mention the Voronezh or Belgorod provinces.
Local officials in the Rostov region also reported hourslong blackouts in the city of Taganrog, blaming an emergency power line shutdown. Local media said a nearby transformer substation caught fire.
Months of Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries have sought to deprive Moscow of oil export revenue, while Russia has targeted Ukraine’s power grid for a fourth straight winter, a move Kyiv calls “weaponizing” the cold.
“Russia once again targeted substations that power the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plants,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X late Saturday. “These were not accidental but well-planned strikes. Russia is deliberately endangering nuclear safety in Europe.”
Sybiha called for an urgent meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said work has begun on President Vladimir Putin’s order to prepare for a possible nuclear test, according to state news agency Tass.
Putin’s order followed remarks by President Donald Trump suggesting Washington could restart atomic tests for the first time in three decades.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday that Russia would “honor its obligations” under a global nuclear test ban. “Putin has repeatedly said that Russia is committed to its obligation to end nuclear tests, and that we have no intention” of conducting them, Peskov said.
Elsewhere, Lavrov said he was ready to meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss the war and bilateral relations. “Secretary of State Marco Rubio and I understand the need for regular communication,” Lavrov told Ria.
He repeated that peace cannot be achieved without “taking Russian interests into account.”
