Russia's Belgorod plunged into blackout as Russian aircraft accidentally drops bomb
Illustrative photo: A Russian bomb reportedly fell on Belgorod, Russia (Russian media)
Russian forces triggered a blackout in Belgorod on the evening of December 6. A Russian aircraft "lost" a guided aerial bomb, which fell on a local substation and damaged it, according to Russian media.
A powerful blast hit the city that evening, plunging the center into a full blackout. Electricity was restored about an hour later.
The blast occurred in the eastern district of Belgorod near a local substation. Authorities did not issue an alert, and there was no indication of a missile or drone threat. It later emerged that the explosion was caused by a guided bomb released from a Russian aircraft as it flew toward the Ukrainian border.
Russian channels said the blast was likely another "unplanned release" of a guided bomb. Similar incidents have become routine, with dozens of munitions landing in fields and suburbs around Belgorod over the past year. The full extent of the substation's damage remains unclear. Crews were able to carry out only partial repairs.
The previous blackout in Belgorod occurred on the evening of November 8, leaving over 20,000 customers without power. At the time, local authorities claimed the outage was caused by an alleged missile strike from the Ukrainian Defense Forces targeting a substation. By that time, Belgorod had already experienced its fourth major outage.
On October 5, residents reported a missile strike on the Luch substation. The following night, the regional governor confirmed that nearly 40,000 people were left without power.
On October 11, Belgorod was hit by another missile strike, which damaged the Luch thermal power plant and cut electricity to most districts. The city faced another strike on October 13. Preliminary reports indicated that turbines at the Belgorod thermal power plant were destroyed, rendering the plant fully inoperative.
