The incident is part of Kyiv's almost daily retaliatory attacks on Russia's border areas, which have increased in response to Russian shelling of Ukrainian villages. Among the affected regions, Belgorod has borne the brunt of these attacks over the past few months, with its residents experiencing the war's impact more directly than others.
In Belgorod, the prolonged shelling disrupted the power supply, leaving traffic lights and street lighting nonfunctional, and causing electricity and internet outages during the day. The damage to the energy infrastructure was not solely due to Ukrainian shelling; reports indicate that mistakes by the Russian army also contributed.
The Meduza portal noted that there have been 38 instances over the past year when the Russian air force mistakenly dropped large-caliber bombs on Belgorod territory.
Simultaneously, the Kursk and Bryansk regions of Russia faced a barrage of attacks from approximately 30 Ukrainian drones. The drones targeted key infrastructure, including refineries and fuel storage facilities, in an attempt to disrupt the supply lines to Russian troops attacking Ukraine.
While the immediate effectiveness of these drone strikes remains unclear, they reflect Kyiv's strategy to weaken the logistical support for Russian military operations. According to Ukrainska Pravda, Ukrainian drones attacked 330 targets on Russian territory in June alone.
(jh)
Source: IAR