Fresh Ukrainian strikes reportedly hit energy infrastructure in occupied Crimea as power outages continue

Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

Ukraine's military launched a drone attack on Russian-occupied Crimea overnight on June 25, reportedly striking energy infrastructure on the peninsula, Russian Telegram media channels reported.

The latest attack comes as the peninsula's energy grid has come under strain in recent days after Russian proxy authorities said widespread power outages in occupied Crimea on June 23 left approximately half of the peninsula without electricity.

Videos posted to social media purport to show a wide-spread power outage in the city of Simferopol following a reported drone strike. While photos purport to show parts of the city of Yalta without power following a reported attack on a substation in the area.

Explosions were also heard near the Balaklava Power Plant in Sevastopol, the Crimean Wind Telegram channel reported.

Neither the extent of the damage caused nor the severity of the outages was immediately clear.

The Kyiv Independent cannot immediately verify the reports. Ukraine's military has not yet commented on the latest attack.

Kyiv has routinely targeted Russian military infrastructure in occupied territories, as well as oil and industrial facilities that support Moscow's war effort.

The country has stepped up strikes on Crimea in recent weeks in an attempt to isolate the region from mainland Russia. In recent months, the peninsula has become the primary focus of Ukraine's effective "middle strike" campaign — using mid-range drones to hit Russian targets at operational depth behind the front, typically defined as between 25 and 200 kilometers (15 and 124 miles) from the front lines.

On June 24, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said that Kyiv's forces would "continue methodically turning Crimea into a zone of constant losses for Russian forces until they leave the Ukrainian peninsula."

Kyiv has set its sights on targeting the energy facilities amid an ongoing fuel shortages in the region caused by Ukrainian strikes.

Gas stations in occupied Crimea have also been instructed to fully suspend fuel sales to civilians from June 21 as Ukraine steps up drone strikes on energy infrastructure across the peninsula.

Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedoov said on June 17 that Ukraine's drone campaign is turning the peninsula "into an island," as Kyiv attempts to isolate Crimea from the rest of Russia with strikes on supply chains.