Ukraine Knocks Out Power With Attack in Russia: Report

Ukrainian military shelling reportedly left several Russian villages along the border between the two warring nations without power on Saturday.

The reports originated from the Russian region of Belgorod, which is situated just to the northeast of the embattled eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv. Throughout the intense yearlong conflict, Belgorod has frequently been subjected to strikes resulting from nearby military combat.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the regional governor of Belgorod, first reported the power outages in a post to his official Telegram account.

"The village of Novaya Tavolzhanka came under Ukrainian shelling today," Gladkov wrote. "The power lines are damaged."

In addition, four other villages near Novaya Tavolzhanka were left "without electricity" as a result of the shelling, Gladkov added. Work is currently underway to restore power to the villages.

Gladkov noted in his post that "according to preliminary information," the shelling had not resulted in any deaths, though he made no references to possible injuries. Damage was also done to several private residences and buildings in the area.

"There is severe damage in one private household, a shell flew into the yard of a new non-residential building," Gladkov wrote, as translated from Russian by Google software. "Also, various damages were revealed in 10 private households: the facade was hooked somewhere, and fences and windows were cut. There is damage to the power line: residents of the villages of Arkhangelskoye, Shamino, Ziborovka, Murom, and Novaya Tavolzhanka remain without electricity. The head of the district Vladimir Zhdanov, operational and emergency services on the spot continue to walk around the territory. In the near future, brigades of electricians will begin restoration work."

Newsweek reached out to Ukrainian officials via email for comment.

The shelling in Belgorod came around the same time that an overnight drone strike left a Russian oil depot ablaze in Crimea . A peninsula located in southern Ukraine, the Crimea region was annexed by Russia in 2014 amid escalating tensions between the two countries. The move has been widely condemned on the international stage and few countries recognize the peninsula as Russian land.

Like Belgorod, Crimea has been subjected to numerous strikes since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began last February, most of which Russia has blamed on Kyiv. Pictures from the scene on Friday showed a massive plume of smoke over the Kazachya Bay district well into the daytime hours. The Russian state-run news agency, TASS, reported that flames engulfed roughly 21,500 square feet around the depot.