Ukraine has escalated its attacks on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, with fresh strikes on energy facilities causing widespread blackouts in the city of Sevastopol.
Moscow-appointed Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev confirmed the power outage occurred after Ukraine struck energy infrastructure in the area. He urged residents to help vulnerable neighbors and limit phone usage to save battery for emergency calls, avoiding overloading the grid.
"The enemy has again attacked insidiously, trying to deprive us of normal living conditions and sowing panic," Razvozhayev wrote on social media. He said some parts of the city, where temperatures are nearing 30 degrees Celsius, will remain without power at least until Wednesday evening. Electric buses in Sevastopol will not operate on Wednesday, and he also suggested parents keep children at home.
Power outages also occurred in Russian-controlled areas of the adjacent Kherson region, Governor Vladimir Saldo said without providing further details. Crimea had earlier suspended fuel sales to residents due to Ukrainian attacks on Russian logistics causing supply disruptions.
In other developments, Ukrainian drone strikes killed two people in the Nizhny Novgorod region (hundreds of kilometers from the front line) and one in the border region of Belgorod. Meanwhile, a Russian drone attack killed a 56-year-old woman in Ukraine's Kharkiv region.
Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces destroyed over 300 Ukrainian drones overnight. On the Ukrainian side, the air force reported Russia launched 101 drones into Ukrainian territory overnight, of which 95 were shot down.
Earlier, Kyiv stated its forces had hit a railway bridge, a power plant, and other critical infrastructure targets in Crimea. Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said last week that his forces were "isolating Crimea with drones." "It seems that in the near future, Crimea will become an island, which could lead to very unexpected consequences for Russians," Fedorov said on a blogger's YouTube channel.
U.S.-led negotiations to end the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II remain frozen, as Washington's attention has shifted to the Middle East since launching strikes on Iran in late February.
