Hotel operators in Alushta and Yalta reported on Monday that they were getting almost no electricity, and rolling blackouts followed. Across occupied Crimea, a total loss of power was reported after a wave of Ukrainian kamikaze drones hit substations, military bases and ports overnight. Kyiv Post called it Ukraine’s most ambitious single-night attack on Russian power infrastructure of the war so far.
Crimea has about 2.5 million people and covers roughly 27,000 square kilometers (10,000 square miles). Another 3 to 3.5 million electricity users in occupied parts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions had partial blackouts or limited supply, the Kyiv Post reported. Russian officials in the south confirmed outages in Berdiansk, Mariupol and nearby communities.
The targets
The raids ran from Sunday into Monday and combined at least eight separate strike packages. Reports put the number of drones at between 450 and 650. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 519. Interfax, independent Russian outlets and Ukrainian open-source groups all confirmed the strikes and the blackouts, according to the Kyiv Post, whose review of eyewitness accounts and news reports found that about two-thirds of the drones went after grid infrastructure or military sites nearby.
The main objective was a major substation near the village of Strohanivka that serves Simferopol and the surrounding area. Russian social media and Ukrainian news reports confirmed at least four hits on the 330 KW station, with fires still burning by midday. Drones had already struck it on June 25.
The Hvardiiske air base next to Simferopol was hit as well. Milbloggers on both sides said drones went for air defenses around the airfield and possible munitions stores, and midday satellite imagery showed two fires. Earlier, in an overnight attack from Friday into Saturday, drones flown by Ukrainian defense intelligence, HUR, destroyed a Russian MiG-29 while it was being refueled, according to the same account.
Outside Crimea, at least six major raids went in. One hit Kerch port, close to the strait and the road and rail bridge that link the peninsula to Russia, and local media posted images of the port’s oil and gas terminal burning. Two strike packages reached Mariupol at 1:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. Three major fires covering a combined 2 square kilometers (.8 square miles) were seen in an industrial district of Taganrog. A single large explosion was reported near a cable factory in Berdiansk. Farther into Russia, drones also struck an oil refinery in Yaroslavl and the Ust-Luga oil terminal and Vysotsk seaport on the Baltic.
Officials respond
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Kremlin-appointed head of Sevastopol, blamed “technological disruptions in high-voltage networks caused by ‘external influences’,” and said a city resident had been killed. He promised power would soon return to every district. Sergey Aksyonov, Russia’s appointee as head of Crimea, said the strikes had brought “some difficulties” and that deliveries would not be back to normal for now.
Maj. Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, had said a day earlier that knocking out the grid in Crimea was his operators’ top priority. “The Crimean power switch is in the ‘off’ mode,” he wrote, describing the goal as “dismantling the enemy’s military rear services in Crimea.” His forces took out 12 substations or major line hubs in 48 hours, he said, and have shut down 37 sites since June 1. Geolocated unit video published since June 4 supports most of his claims, the Kyiv Post found, with about 90% of attacks in Crimea and 10% in Kherson region.
Russia’s own barrage on Kyiv ran the same night. Reports said 12 civilians had died and more than 40 were injured by mid-Monday, with rescuers still searching collapsed apartment blocks.
Sources
- Massive Ukraine Drone Attack Knocks Crimea Off Power Grid, Strike Packages Hit Russia
- Ukrainian Drone Swarms Kill Crimea Power Grid, Fires Visible From Space
- Kyiv Hits Crimea Rail Bridge, Power Plant
