Ukraine halts goods deliveries to Crimea amid new tensions with Russian Federation

Officials said earlier today that they had managed to partially reconnect the cities of Simferopol, Feodosia, Yevpatoria, and Yalta using mobile gas generator turbines, but these are said to be providing less than half of the peninsula’s needs. Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov said in a statement he was prepared to extend a state of emergency implemented over the weekend until late December.

Mustafa Dzhemilev, a senior Crimean Tatar politician, said the process of restoring power to Crimea could start only after “political prisoners” on the peninsula were released.

Two of the total four power lines had already been downed on Friday in separate blasts. Local news agencies reported interruptions in phone reception and Internet connection and restrictions on gasoline sales.

Almost 1.9 million people have been left partly or fully without electricity.

Crimean Tatar activists and members of Ukrainian volunteer battalions that have fought in the east have manned roadblocks into Crimea since September, to put pressure on Russian Federation and its puppet rulers in the region.

On Sunday, the Ukrainian Energy Ministry said that the power lines that deliver electricity to two districts in Kherson region, were also affected.

According to the regional government, Crimea depends on Ukraine for its electricity supplies, providing only 30 per cent of its own energy.

The Energy Ministry said it was monitoring the energy situation in Crimea around the clock and was organizing supplementary supplies of gasoline and diesel fuel.

The USA has begun training Ukrainian troops and special operations forces in an attempt to aid the war-ravaged country to protect its borders against pro-Russia forces, the Pentagon says. Two police officers were attacked by demonstrators near the site and a fix crew was thwarted by the demonstrators pushing for an economic blockade, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry in Kiev said Sunday.

Russian Federation remains the target of sanctions imposed by the European Union and United States following the Crimea annexation and Russia’s backing of separatists in the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Ukraine has suspended deliveries of goods to Crimea, where a power blackout has caused major disruption.

On Saturday, the pylons were the scene of violent clashes between activists from the Right Sector nationalist movement and paramilitary police, Ukrainian media reported.