Russia is hit simultaneously from the north and south - RFU News

[TexasTowelie]

Today, there are important updates from the Russian Federation.

Here, Ukraine continued its deep strike campaign against Russia’s energy infrastructure to plunge the country into darkness. However, now even the weather is against the Russians, as an arctic storm just struck the Russian grid in tandem with Ukraine’s campaign in the south.

A major power outage has affected Murmansk and Severomorsk following a severe Arctic storm, exposing the vulnerability of aging energy infrastructure in northern Russia. According to official statements from local authorities, the outage was caused by the collapse of high-voltage power lines supplying Murmansk and Severomorsk, which reportedly collapsed due to wear and tear exacerbated by the storm. The blackout this caused is significant given that the region hosts Russia’s Arctic Fleet, with Severomorsk serving as the principal base for the country’s nuclear naval forces. The loss of electricity and heating has direct implications for the ability to sustain military operations and maintain naval assets in extreme climatic conditions. The Russian Northern Fleet is a core component of the nuclear triad and Russian power projection into the Arctic, causing initial rumors that Ukraine was behind the attack.

While not being behind the Murmansk blackout directly, Ukraine has exploited the timing of the crisis by conducting precision strikes against energy infrastructure during a period of peak vulnerability. Ukraine hit targets in the Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine and neighboring regions, which could have made up for the loss of electricity. Immediately, Belgorod was subjected to what the regional governor described as the most intense attack on the city in history of this war, with local reports citing more than 50 explosions overnight, indicating a sustained and concentrated strike pattern. The attack reportedly damaged key elements of the city’s energy infrastructure, including the thermal power plant, leading to power outages across multiple districts. In Taganrog, explosions were reported following a strike that targeted the city’s electrical infrastructure, with preliminary information indicating the destruction of a transformer. As a result, electricity was temporarily cut across several districts of the city. The Orlovskaya Thermal Power Station in Oryol was struck following reports of high-speed aerial objects, with Ukrainian cruise-missile-like Peklo-drones operating over the area. Regional authorities confirmed damage to fuel and energy infrastructure in the Orel region, leaving parts of the city without electricity and water. In Russian-controlled western Donetsk, a Himars strike reportedly hit an electrical substation located in an industrial zone. The attack ignited the facility and affected multiple substations, resulting in widespread and recurring blackouts across the area. Ukrainian forces also struck the Bokovo-Platove electrical substation in the Russian-controlled Luhansk region, with residents in nearby Khrustalnyi reporting UAV activity during the incident. The strike disrupted power distribution in the area, indicating a long-range drone attack on critical energy infrastructure.

The scale and geographic reach of the outages demonstrate Russia’s inability to shield its rear-area infrastructure from coordinated, multi-directional pressure. As strikes from the south compounded grid stress, a severe Arctic storm simultaneously degraded energy systems from the north, creating overlapping points of failure across the network. This convergence consequently triggered cascading blackouts that spread across Russian-controlled territories and deep into Russia’s interior, exposing systemic fragility in transmission and rerouting capacity. The resulting power and heating failures amplified the impact on both civilian infrastructure and military facilities. In the base of Russia’s nuclear submarines and its Northern Fleet, where energy continuity is critical, sustained outages erode operational readiness, disrupt logistics and maintenance cycles, and constrain command-and-control functions at strategically significant military hubs, particularly in the Arctic region. These cascading effects underscore that Russia cannot reliably protect its rear from synchronized shocks.

Overall, recent developments across Russia’s northern and southern regions illustrate how environmental strain and operational pressure can converge to expose systemic vulnerability. Severe Arctic weather stressed aging infrastructure in Murmansk and Severomorsk, while Ukrainian strikes intensified these weaknesses by diverting scarce repair crews and equipment from routine maintenance. This convergence accelerated failures across rear-area and military-support energy networks, producing widespread...

[niyad]

1. Slava Ukraini. Thank you for the update.

[House of Roberts]

2. So, are the Ukrainians pausing their attacks for a week like Putin says he will,

or did this precede his announcement?

[lamp_shade]

3. Yesssssss