Half Of Crimea Goes Dark After Ukrainian Strike Hits Thermal Power Plant

Yet more drone attacks sent by Ukraine's military has crippled much of the infrastructure of the Crimean peninsula. Reuters is confirming significant power outages, while some regional reports say as much as half of all Crimea is without power Tuesday.

One of the regional publications specified that "Yevpatoria, Saki, Krasnoperekopsk, Dzhankoy, and surrounding areas were left without electricity, reports the Ukrainian service of Radio Svoboda."

"Preliminary, electricity supply is planned to be restored within 24 hours" - after several facilities in Crimea suffered direct hits by inbound drones. Fires have been witnessed at at railway and military facilities. Importantly, a large fire is being reported at a thermal power plant in Kerch, which left the greatest impact in terms of the widespread regional blackout:

A strike on a power plant caused major power outages across Crimea, leaving about half the peninsula without electricity. pic.twitter.com/2yfCvAvhFv

— Clash Report (@clashreport) June 23, 2026

Telegram channel "Crimean Wind" has written, "The CHP plant fire in Kerch is confirmed; the fire spread to a reservoir. The monitoring group, relying on satellite imagery, records a smoke plume about 47 kilometers long."

According to more: "A strike on an oil depot, a TPP-Terminal, port infrastructure, and facilities in the area of Henichesk and the Arabat Spit is also reported."

It was only two days ago, on June 21, that an oil depot in the Crimean city of Kerch was attacked, it is reportedly still burning, with reports of fires at the sprawling terminal complex's Kavkaz port.

Life for millions in Crimea is already seriously strained, after those prior Sunday attacks resulted in the most severe fuel restrictions imposed on the population since the war began over four years ago.

Crimean Governor Sergey Aksyonov had previously confirmed the fuel crisis for the whole region, saying, "Today, June 21, starting from 09:00 am, fuel sales at Crimean petrol stations have been suspended" - though he added that fuel would only be sold to state enterprises.

He made clear in a Telegram post that starting Sunday morning local time gas stations across the peninsula would stop selling fuel to individuals and businesses. All cash, card and fuel coupons were immediately halted.

Relentless, nightly drone attacks making life harder on common Russians - in tandem to the Ukrainian population also having suffered immensely under Russia's bombs and drones...

Overnight, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched yet another large-scale drone attack against Russian-occupied Crimea, targeting military sites and energy infrastructure near the Kerch Strait. pic.twitter.com/7ddIVmjkAz

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 23, 2026

Ukraine's President Zelensky boasted of the weekend attacks, stating on social media that "Facilities on both sides of the Crimean Bridge were hit: maritime logistics used to transport oil in the Krasnodar region and an oil depot in temporarily occupied Kerch."

BBC had separately earlier reported that Kiev "hit a logistics facility for oil transportation in Russia's Krasnodar region, which lies adjacent to Crimea across the Kerch Strait. Local authorities said one person had been killed on a passenger ferry."