Mass blackouts reported across occupied Crimea
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Editor's Note: This is a developing story.
A sweeping blackout hit occupied Crimea overnight on Oct. 24 after an attack on a key electrical substation in southern Russia, according to Telegram monitoring channels.
"The entire peninsula is without electricity," the Telegram channel Exilenova+ reported on the evening of Oct. 23, citing satellite data, online monitors, and local accounts.
According to satellite imagery from NASA FIRMS, the Taman substation in Russia's Krasnodar Krai was damaged in an overnight attack. The substation supplies electricity to occupied Crimea.
Major cities, including Sevastopol and Yalta, were left without electricity following the hit on the key power station.
The online watchdog NetBlocks also reported widespread internet outages in Crimea.
Russia's proxy authorities in Crimea confirmed power outages, but then claimed they were resolved.
"As a result of an enemy attack on energy infrastructure outside of Sevastopol, our city is temporarily without power," Sevastopol's Russian-installed governor Mykhailo Razvozhaev said on Telegram.
Soon afterwards, local authorities said power had been restored in multiple cities. But according to the Crimean Wind Telegram channel, residents later said blackouts had again hit Simferopol, Yalta, and Alushta.
Another drone strike on energy infrastructure in southern Russia was also reported in Rostov Oblast overnight. Governor Yury Slyusar claimed drones damaged a transformer substation in the region's Myasnikovsky district, causing blackouts in nearly 130 homes.
The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the extent of the blackouts or the reported attacks at the time of publication.
The Taman substation is a key energy node, bridging the Russian energy grid to the occupied peninsula via the Kerch strait.
Crimea, which was occupied by Russian forces in 2014, has been hit with widespread power outages before. This summer, Ukrainian forces reportedly hit 16 power stations across Crimea in 48 hours, in an effort to hinder Moscow in its war effort.
