Three villages in Russia’s Kursk region, on the border with Ukraine, were left without power on Tuesday after a drone dropped explosives on a power plant, the region’s governor said, according to Reuters.

“Currently, repair crews are carrying out restoration work. None of the residents were injured,” Governor Roman Starovoit reported on Telegram.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Russian regions near the Ukrainian border have repeatedly reported drone strikes on their civilian infrastructure.

Moscow claims that Kyiv bears direct responsibility for attacks on its territory, but Ukraine denies this.

This drone attack in Kursk happened a day after the attack by Russian “guerrillas” in Belgorod.

Moscow said on Tuesday it had eliminated the group that attacked Belgorod and the “anti-terrorist” regime imposed in the Russian region had been lifted. However, images on social media appear to belie the “elimination” of “terrorists” and the leader of the Russian Volunteer Corps says the operation is ongoing.

After two days of fighting, Russia says it has surrounded the “terrorists” and killed more than 70 of them, pushing the rest back into Ukraine. Russia describes the Ukrainian militants, and Kyiv says they come from two anti-Kremlin paramilitary groups.

Ukrainian officials say they are Russian citizens from the Russian Legion of Freedom and the Russian Volunteer Corps (RUSC), who are trying to create a “safe zone” for Ukrainians.

Andriy Yusov of Kyiv’s intelligence agency said both groups operated “autonomously on Russian territory” and Ukrainians were not involved, while Ukrainian television said they were militias and “Russian volunteers.”

The Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) gained notoriety in March 2023 for participating in a cross-border raid in Russia’s Bryansk region that it said involved 45 people.

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