Nearly 40,000 people in Belgorod Region have been left without power

Ukrainian strikes have caused a massive blackout in Belgorod Region in western Russia, according to Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.

Nearly 40,000 residents were left without power as of Sunday evening, while hospitals switched to generators, the region’s governor wrote on Telegram.

He said earlier that at least three people, including a 10-year-old boy, had been injured in Ukrainian drone attacks over the past 24 hours.

Ukrainian officials reported blackouts in the city of Lviv, near the border with Poland, on Sunday, and said that four civilians were killed in Russian strikes.

The Russian Defense Ministry later released a statement saying that it had targeted weapons factories and “the energy infrastructure supporting their operations.” Moscow maintains that its forces do not target civilians.

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Moscow began regularly striking Ukraine’s energy sites in the fall of 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the time that the army was targeting energy infrastructure after Kiev bombed the Crimean Bridge in October that year, killing four people.