Drone Strike on the Taman Substation Cuts Power Across Crimea and Parts of Rostov

A drone attack overnight on Saturday cut electricity across Crimea, the peninsula Russia annexed in 2014 and which Ukraine and most states consider Ukrainian territory. NASA's satellite fire-monitoring data showed damage to the Taman substation in Russia's Krasnodar region, a main node that carries power to Crimea, the Kyiv Independent reported. Ukraine's state news agency Ukrinform reported a blackout across the whole peninsula and said Russian-installed authorities confirmed damage to energy infrastructure.

Russian officials confirmed the outage. Mikhail Razvozhayev, Sevastopol's Russian-installed governor, said energy infrastructure outside the city had been attacked and that Sevastopol was temporarily without power, the Russian independent channel Ostorozhno Novosti reported. Essential facilities switched to backup power under a special regime. Ukrainian outlets cited NetBlocks data showing near-zero internet traffic in Crimea.

The strikes reached across southern Russia. Rostov Governor Yuri Slyusar said air defenses destroyed more than 80 drones over the region and that a depot of the bus operator Rostovpassazhirtrans and 21 buses were damaged, Ostorozhno Novosti reported. The business daily Kommersant reported that debris fell on a transformer substation in the village of Kalinin and cut power to 172 homes. Russia's state agency TASS reported 26 drones destroyed over the Voronezh region. Ukrainian media also reported an attack on the Tolyattikauchuk synthetic rubber plant in the Samara region. Russian officials had not confirmed that report.

Russia's strikes on Ukraine continued over the same period. Russian aircraft dropped three FAB-250 bombs on Kramatorsk on Friday afternoon, killing one person and injuring six, including three children, Ukrinform reported.