A state of emergency has been declared in Crimea as almost two million people are without power after pylons, supplying energy to Crimea, are blown up reports the WSJ:
Russia’s Energy Ministry said almost two million people had been left without power. The local energy ministry said that between 20% and 30% of the peninsula was supplied with electricity, almost half of that by generators.
Russian media outlets reported that pylons in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson had been blown up by pro-Ukrainian activists. The Russian ministry didn’t mention the cause of the outage. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry confirmed that the pylons had been blown up and pledged to help facilitate repair work.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine last year, and the territory still receives 85% of its water and 80% of its electricity from mainland Ukraine. The U.S. and Europe imposed trade sanctions on Moscow in response to the annexation.
Since September, pro-Ukrainian activists—many of them from the minority Muslim community of Crimean Tatars—have attempted to blockade trucks transporting goods from mainland Ukraine to Crimea. Goods from Russia can only reach Crimea directly across a thin strip of water called the Kerch Strait.
Ukraine’s interior ministry also said it was investigating complaints that a police officer had been wounded during an attempted blockade near Crimea on Saturday, though it didn’t confirm that the incident had taken place.
