Power outages have continued to plague Sevastopol, the largest city in Russian-controlled Crimea, following repeated, intensified Ukrainian strikes on the peninsula.
The Kremlin-installed governor of the city, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said Thursday that restrictions had been introduced across the city and urged residents to reduce the load on the power grid. Ukraine’s drone forces commander Robert Brovdi said Kyiv had attacked Sevastopol’s main power substation seven times in the early hours of Wednesday.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, a move widely condemned by the international community, after the Maidan protests ousted Ukraine’s then pro-Kremlin president, Viktor Yanukovych. The port city of Sevastopol was historically home to the headquarters for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ambitiously said he wanted to regain control of Crimea when he was elected in 2019 – messaging that has become louder since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has escalated its military efforts there, reflecting Kyiv’s broader push to increase pressure on the Kremlin. That campaign has upended daily life for people on the peninsula, resulting in frequent drone strikes, a ban on gas sales to ordinary residents, and the suspension of summer camps for children.
