Russia attacks its own electrical substation
An out-of-control air defense missile scores a direct hit on a critical 750 kV electrical substation near Bryansk city in Russia.
Russia claimed Ukraine attacked an electrical substation in the Bryansk region with Neptune cruise missiles, but a video of the strike shows the damage was caused by an out-of-control Russian air defense missile.
A car with a dashcam was stopped at a traffic light on Lenina Street and the A-240 Highway in Vygonichi, Russia, southwest of Bryansk city, capturing the moment when a rocket flew directly overhead and hit a 750-kilovolt electrical substation. The missile exploded, followed by two bright power flashes.
Bryansk Oblast Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz confirmed there was a Ukrainian attack in the area and that the Vygonichi district was targeted.
“Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked our region using long-range Neptune missiles and [HIMARS] multiple launch rocket systems,” Bogomaz wrote on Telegram. “The attack disrupted heat and power supplies in seven municipalities.”
He initially claimed that two men were injured in the attack, later posting that no one was injured.
“Last night, air defense forces of the Russian Ministry of Defense detected and destroyed 11 enemy fixed-wing jet-powered UAVs over the Bryansk region. There were no casualties.”
The Ukrainian R-360 and longer-range R-360L Neptune cruise missiles are powered by a jet engine, but the dashcam captured important clues that shows what really happened.
The video, published by the popular Telegram channel Exilenova Plus, shows a rocket heading toward the substation, with a small exhaust plume consistent with solid rocket fuel. Just before it hits the substation, it makes two very fast S-turns that couldn’t be made by a larger cruise missile.
Bogomaz said that the damage knocked out communal heat and power in “seven municipalities” in the Vygonichi district.