Overnight Ukrainian attacks on Crimea knocked out power across the entire annexed peninsula, local energy authorities said Monday morning, as a separate strike on Russia’s Belgorod region killed at least one person.
Krymenergo, the state-owned energy provider in Crimea, told the Interfax news agency that a regionwide power outage was caused by “external interference.”
Kremlin-backed authorities in the port city of Sevastopol, where Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is based, directly attributed the blackout to an “enemy attack on energy infrastructure outside the borders of Sevastopol.”
Sevastopol Governor Razvozhayev later said repair crews had managed to “reroute” power through backup lines to a “majority of residential homes” in the city. He said all energy customers would eventually see power restored in phases.
A state of emergency remains active in Crimea following previous Ukrainian attacks on energy infrastructure in the region last month.
