Crimea Hit by Rolling Blackouts and Fuel Shortages as Ukrainian Strikes Intensify

Widespread power cuts are disrupting daily life in Sevastopol, the largest city in Russian-controlled Crimea, after intensified Ukrainian attacks on the peninsula. Residents are facing severe electricity interruptions that are affecting routine life and critical infrastructure.

The Russian-appointed mayor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said on Thursday that power consumption restrictions had been imposed across the city and urged residents to reduce the load on the grid. Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s drone forces, said Kyiv struck Sevastopol’s main power station seven times in the early hours of Wednesday.

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, a move condemned internationally. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in 2019, after his election, that he intended to restore control over the peninsula, a goal that has gained urgency since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In recent weeks, Ukraine has stepped up military activity in the area.

The escalation has also brought drone attacks, a ban on gasoline sales to ordinary residents, and the suspension of summer camps for children. A Sevastopol resident said air raid alerts had become more frequent, with several incidents each day, and that the city felt “more dangerous.” The Russian-installed Crimean authorities said on Sunday that fuel would be available only to government agencies, not civilians or businesses, while another resident said stations had no fuel and that when it was available, prices were much higher. Sergey Aksyonov, Russia’s head of Crimea, also announced this week that all children’s camps would be suspended until September 1. Videos from Simferopol showed empty roads and public spaces, with residents describing an “apocalypse” and bare supermarket shelves. Ukraine says it is trying to increase pressure on the Kremlin by striking deeper inside Russia, targeting refineries and military facilities, and is now systematically hitting transport links and supply routes in Crimea to disrupt logistics and isolate military infrastructure.