Northern Crimea Energy Crisis Is Driving Residents to Leave

Problems in the energy sector caused by strikes by Ukraine’s Defense Forces on the energy infrastructure of annexed Crimea are prompting people to leave the peninsula’s northern regions.

Serhii Danilov, deputy director of the Ukrainian Center for Middle Eastern Studies, said this in an interview with Krym.Realii.

According to him, people are leaving these regions due to a lack of information about what the situation will be like during the autumn and winter period.

“I don’t have complete information about the scale of this process. Those leaving are primarily people who have roots in Kherson region. Some are going to Russia, including Russian ‘ponayekhi’ (Russians who settled in Crimea after its annexation by Russia in 2014 – KR). I know from local residents’ accounts that in northern Crimea, they are trying to supply electricity for an hour a day, but the voltage is so low that household appliances do not work. Even electric kettles don’t work,” Serhii Danilov said.

There are no official figures from the Russian-installed authorities in Crimea on the number of people leaving amid the energy crisis.

Large-scale energy problems have continued in annexed Crimea for a month.

Since July, Ukraine’s Defense Forces have intensified strikes on local energy facilities in response to Russia’s actions during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

This has led to widespread power outages across the Crimean Peninsula.

The Russian authorities claim they are in control of the situation but have provided no scenarios for what to expect in the near future.

EMPR