Crimea largely without power after substation attack, water also rationed
Following an attack on the Taman substation in southern Russia, occupied Crimea suffered widespread blackouts. Occupation authorities are restricting electricity and water.
Symbolic image · Photo: NASA / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
Widespread power outages hit the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula overnight into Saturday. They followed an attack on the Taman substation in Russia’s Krasnodar region, a key link that carries electricity from the Russian grid across the Kerch Strait to Crimea. Satellite data from NASA’s FIRMS system show damage to the facility. Who carried out the attack has not been officially confirmed.
The Ukrainian monitoring channel Exilenova+ reported that the entire peninsula was without power; the organization NetBlocks registered widespread internet outages. Moscow-installed Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev confirmed a temporary blackout in the city after an attack on energy facilities. Later, power was said to have been restored in several towns, but a Telegram channel reported new outages in Simferopol, Yalta and Alushta.
Russia’s occupation chief Sergei Aksyonov said drones had attacked local power grids and ordered restrictions on electricity and water, according to The Guardian. He did not say how many households were affected. Crimea has been occupied by Russia since 2014; in the summer, Ukrainian forces reportedly attacked 16 power plants on the peninsula within 48 hours.