Late on February 22, a series of explosions rocked the Russian city of Belgorod, leaving many districts without electricity and causing disruptions to heating and water supplies.
Preliminary reports said the city was hit by HIMARS missiles, according to Russian Telegram channels.
“Ukraine’s Armed Forces shelled Belgorod again, preliminarily with HIMARS rockets. Several districts of the city lost power,” users wrote.
Witnesses said they heard at least 10 powerful blasts. There were also reports that rockets struck the Belgorod thermal power plant.
Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov confirmed strikes on Belgorod and the wider region. He reported a massive missile attack and said the city’s energy infrastructure had suffered serious damage.
“There are disruptions to the supply of electricity, water and heat to residents’ homes. We will be able to fully assess the scale of the damage in daylight,” Gladkov wrote.
Later, Gladkov said window glazing was damaged in two apartment buildings in Belgorod. He added that equipment was damaged at one industrial facility in the city.
Meanwhile, people posting online said they were finding “stones” around the city after the attack - apparently fragments of munitions.
On February 21, Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, shared footage of an attack in Russia’s Tatarstan that appeared to show a drone resembling a Shahed.
Also overnight into February 21, drones targeted a gas processing plant in Russia’s Samara region, sparking a large fire.
