State Of Emergency As Crimea Loses Electricity

Even though Crimea was annexed by Russian Federation a year ago, Ukraine has continued to supply power to the region.

All four power lines were cut, reports said, leaving the region’s two million inhabitants without electricity.

Russia’s Energy Ministry said in a statement that two power lines bringing power from Ukraine to Crimea had been affected, as a result of which 1,896,000 people had been left without power.

Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry has now declared a state of emergency in Crimea until power is fully returned.

Tensions have soared between Russia and Ukraine since Crimea was annexed in March 2014 after Russian troops wearing uniforms with no identifying markings seized key infrastructure, and pro-Russian leaders held a snap referendum to secede from Ukraine.

On Saturday, the pylons were the scene of violent clashes between activists from the Right Sector nationalist movement and paramilitary police, Ukrainian media reported. Backup power sources are reportedly supplying hospitals and other emergency services with electricity.

The incident came after Ukraine’s UNIAN agency reported that two of the main power lines into Crimea had been attacked overnight Thursday to Friday.

TASS also quoted a bulletin from a local emergency response unit, saying, “Due to the complete shut off from the Ukrainian power grid, the Crimean grid is operating in standalone mode”.

Ukrainian authorities said they encountered activists blockading the site when they tried to fix the damaged pylons.