Drone attack speculation after fire at Russia's Novocherkassk power plant
Two power units of the District Power Plant in Novocherkassk, Russia, were "temporarily taken out of operation" after a fire broke out, as reported by Vasily Golubev, the governor of the Rostov region. Several media outlets have speculated that the incident was the result of a drone attack.
12:25 PM EDT, March 25, 2024
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The explosion happened overnight from Sunday to Monday, according to reports from residents of Novocherkassk in the Rostov region, who described hearing a series of explosions. Ukraine's Channel24 released several videos posted by Russians depicting the event.
Additionally, the channel "This is Rostov" shared a sequence of videos capturing the explosive event at the power plant, where someone can be heard exclaiming, "Something fell!"
There were reports of smoke enveloping the power plant, prompting emergency services to rush to the scene. About 20 drones were reportedly spotted over the region.
Shutdown of two power blocks announced
A brief time after the incident, Governor Vasily Golubev released a statement. "This evening, a fire erupted at the transformer substation of the state District Power Plant in Novocherkassk, which was quickly extinguished by the station staff, fortunately resulting in no casualties. Investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing," he explained.
Golubev later acknowledged that the incident led to a temporary disruption in electricity due to the disconnection of two high voltage lines. "Electricity supply to consumers has since been restored. Nevertheless, two power units of the state regional power plant were temporarily taken out of operation," he added.
The Novocherkassk District Power Plant is not only the largest thermal power plant but also ranks as the second-largest in overall capacity, trailing only behind the Rostov nuclear power plant.
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