Day 201: Russia Targets Power Stations; Huge Blaze at Warehouse in Moscow Outskirts

Facts

• Amid vast Ukrainian gains - reportedly going as far as the Russian border - in the Kharkiv region in recent days, Russia launched a number of strikes on power stations and other infrastructure in central and eastern regions late on Sunday. The Kharkiv region, and parts of Sumy, Poltava, and Dnipropetrovsk, were left without electricity and running water following the strikes.
• Among the targets of the Russian missile strikes was the Kharkiv TEC-5, Ukraine's second-largest heat, and power plant. At least one civilian was killed and two more injured in the assault on the site. Ukrainian officials said on Mon. that power and water had been restored to 80% of the Kharkiv region, while power and water were completely restored in other regions. However, fresh strikes were reported in Kharkiv on Monday.
• In the last 24 hrs, Russian strikes have also been reported in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Mykolaiv, where five civilians have been reported injured. Russian strikes in the Donetsk region killed three civilians and injured eight others. Meanwhile, pro-Russia separatists in Donetsk reported four civilians had been killed and three more injured in Ukrainian shelling. Ukrainian shelling was also reported in the Zaporizhzhia city of Melitopol.
• Elsewhere, Ukraine appears to have launched a further attack within Russia's borders, after a 2,500 sq metre warehouse in the Moscow outskirts of Volokolamsk was engulfed in flames on Monday. The cause of the fire is not yet known - Ukraine has not indicated that it bears any responsibility.
• It comes as Russia's intelligence and security service, the FSB, claimed to have foiled a series of "terror attacks" being planned by its Ukrainian counterpart, the SBU, in the regions of Kherson and Crimea. Evidence was not provided and the claim could not be independently confirmed.
• Meanwhile, Roman Dudin, the former head of Ukraine's Security Service in the Kharkiv region, was arrested on suspicion of treason on Sun., Ukrainian media reported. He was initially dismissed from his role for "negligent performance of his duties," on May 29 this year.

Sources: Pravda, Associated Press, Ukrinform, Euro Weekly, and Tass.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by The Philadelphia Inquirer. Ukraine's lightening-fast counteroffensive in Kharkiv is its biggest military victory since the successful defense of Kyiv in the first weeks of the war. It has propelled a new phase of the war: one where Ukraine can drive Russians out of their territory instead of being stuck in a drawn-out war of attrition.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by Tass. Kharkiv is not being liberated. Around 2,000 foreign mercenaries from the US and Britain, among other nations, are supporting a violent tirade through the region by Ukrainian forces. Although some 5,000 have already escaped to Russia, many remain trapped under repressive measures newly imposed by Ukrainian units.

Predictions