Image source, ReutersA Ukrainian air attack on Russian-occupied Crimea has knocked out power in its largest city, Sevastopol, Moscow-installed governor Mikhail Razvozhayev says.
Ukraine says its drones struck the city’s main power substation overnight on Tuesday.
Razvozhayev warned some areas would be left without power until Wednesday evening.
Kyiv has been intensifying attacks on power facilities in areas held by Russia to damage oil revenues and try to force President Putin to the negotiating table.
The port city of Sevastopol is an important logistical and strategic location.
“We will not be intimidated by the lack of light. We have gone through more than that, and we will survive now,” Razvozhayev said in a Telegram message to the public.
“The enemy is again striking vilely, trying to deprive us of our usual living conditions and sow panic.”
He said a “special regime” had been put in place at the energy facilities as the damage was assessed and that all emergency services are on full alert.
Those living in Sevastopol were told to introduce power-saving measures including saving mobile phone battery by turning the screen brightness down and switching off background apps.
They were also urged to check on elderly neighbours throughout the day, when temperatures are expected to reach 30C.
Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, said on Wednesday drones had targeted 48 operational and planned military sites.
He said that the main power substation of Sevastopol had been hit during the attacks.
Explosions had also been heard in Bakhchisarai, Kerch and in the area of Mount Ai-Petri, where the radio engineering battalion of the Russian Aerospace Forces is based.
Image source, ReutersIt comes amid fuel shortages in the city after intense efforts by Ukraine to isolate the peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.
On Sunday, Russian-installed leader Sergei Aksyonov announced all petrol sales had been suspended.
It is now mostly reserved for government services, despite local residents saying garages did have supplies in its tanks.
Panic-buying has also started in some shops, with sugar said to be in especially short supply.
Kyiv has also targeted key bridges connecting the Crimean peninsula with other areas of occupied Ukraine.
Crimea is recognised internationally as Ukrainian, but since Putin’s invasion it has been linked to Russia by road and rail links.
A land corridor goes through occupied areas of southern Ukraine as well as a road and rail bridge through the Kerch Strait.
Russia’s defence ministry has said that it destroyed over 300 drones from Ukraine overnight.
Meanwhile Kyiv’s air force has said Moscow launched its own 101 drones at Ukraine overnight, but 95 were intercepted and destroyed.
On Thursday a 200-strong Ukrainian drone strike hit an oil refinery in the south-east area of Moscow.
People reported specks of black oil rained down on the streets after the attack, which also saw columns of thick smoke going into the sky.
Moscow authorities denied the “oil rain” but residents insisted to the BBC the dirty drizzle had marked their clothes.
The war has been going on for four and a half years since Ukraine was invaded by Russia.
On June, 4 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sent an open letter to Putin calling for direct negotiations face-to-face to end the war and a ceasefire.
Putin called the note “rude” and refused the request for a meeting, insisting peace talks should precede any ceasefire.
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