Has Ukraine hit power plants near Moscow
Executive summary
Yes — reporting shows Ukraine has struck power and heating infrastructure on Russian soil, including a heat-and-power station in the Moscow region and power/heating plants in border cities such as Belgorod, as part of a sustained long‑range drone and strike campaign; Russian officials and some outlets offer different explanations for some incidents, and not every event has an unambiguous, independently verified attribution [1] [2] [3].
1. The headline incidents: Moscow-region station and Belgorod blackout
Reuters reported that Ukraine struck a heat and power station in the Moscow region with drones, igniting a major fire and cutting heating for thousands — one of Kyiv’s biggest reported attacks deep inside Russia [1]; separately, multiple outlets and trackers say a Ukrainian strike on Belgorod’s power and heating plants left roughly 600,000 residents without electricity and 200,000 without water in January 2026, an outage widely covered as emblematic of Kyiv’s ability to reach Russian energy infrastructure [2] [4].
2. Kyiv’s long‑range campaign and stated aims
Open-source reporting and Western analysts document an expanding Ukrainian long‑range campaign against Russian military and energy infrastructure: Ukrainian forces have claimed strikes on depots and energy facilities across Central and other military districts, and analysts from ISW and Russia Matters noted attacks on ammunition depots and large industrial energy targets as part of a broader effort to degrade Russia’s logistics and warfighting capacity [5] [3].
3. Russian narratives and alternate explanations
Moscow’s official accounts sometimes attribute fires and damage to falling drone debris or defensive actions rather than direct Ukrainian precision hits; Russian officials have claimed debris from downed drones caused secondary blazes at depots and reservoirs, a framing that can downplay direct Ukrainian responsibility while emphasizing Russian air-defence successes [3]. Independent confirmation is uneven across incidents, and state statements from either side carry clear political motives.
4. Media corroboration and limits of public reporting
International outlets such as Reuters, Washington Post summaries cited by analysts, Russia‑focused trackers, and regional outlets provide consistent reporting that power and heating plants have been struck, but the public record often lacks full forensic detail — which specific munitions were used, whether damage was from direct hits versus falling debris, and whether Kyiv officially claimed every incident — leaving some ambiguity for independent verification [1] [2] [3].
5. Tactical and strategic context: winter pressure and reprisal logic
Analysts frame these strikes within a reciprocal pattern: Russia has intensified winter attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and Ukraine has at times responded by targeting Russian energy nodes and military logistics to impose costs and create deterrence effects; observers note these moves can produce acute humanitarian effects (loss of heat/power) that both sides weaponize politically during cold months [6] [4] [7].
6. What reporting does not (yet) resolve
Available reporting establishes that Ukrainian strikes have hit Russian power and heating facilities in the Moscow region, Belgorod and other areas, but does not always provide independent, forensic confirmation of every claim, nor does it uniformly clarify Kyiv’s internal targeting criteria or public admission policy for each strike; where Russian officials offer alternate explanations, public sources sometimes lack the on‑the‑ground evidence to fully adjudicate disputes [1] [3].