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Power lines blown up in Crimea

However, some three in four of the peninsula’s 2.3 million residents were still without power by early Monday.

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Crimea receives 85% of its water and 80% of its electricity from mainland Ukraine.

Only essential services and government offices are operating in Crimea after key electricity pylons connected to the peninsula were knocked down in Ukraine.

Thanks to the measures taken, the peninsula has already partially restored the power supply, this was particularly stressed by the Governor of Sevastopol, Sergey Menyailo.

The sudden release of the letter nearly 20 days after he sent it also seemed to offer a subtle endorsement of the electricity protest.

The minister said the construction of a power bridge from Russia’s Krasnodar region to Crimea is going on schedule.

“We are not satisfied with today’s status quo, when an occupying power neglects the basic rights of the Crimean Tatar people”, Mr. Poroshenko said on Monday.

“I would like to emphasise that Ukraine will respond in similar ways”, he said. “Nobody will be allowed to blackmail us in order to solve any issues”.

Members of Ukraine’s Right Sector, an ultranationalist militia, have since joined the Tatar-led blockade, which some have feared could strangle the peninsula’s economy and invite a forceful response from Moscow.

The peninsula’s hospitals also have back-up supplies and will not be affected. Explosions downed two lines and damaged the other two.

In September, Tatar and other activists tried to blockade the main road leading from Crimea to Ukraine, disrupting food supplies.

Russian Federation has no direct land route to Crimea; a single ferry boat is all that connects the two land masses.

Ukrainian parliamentarian Mustafa Djemilev-the leader of the Crimean Tatars’ unofficial ruling body who has been barred from entering Crimea until 2019-said activists would only grant fix workers access to pylons that provide electricity to Ukrainian-held territory.

Russian Federation has blamed Ukrainian nationalists and Crimean Tatar activists for the pylon damage, calling it “an act of terrorism”.

The training comes after reports of increased violence in recent weeks between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russia forces in the eastern part of the country.

“Crimeans will not be brought to their knees … or spoken to in the language of blackmail”, he was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency on Sunday.

On Monday, activists were preventing repairs to the towers for a second day.

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Neither the Russian nor the Ukrainian side has given any official information on the perpetrators and reasons behind the sabotage so far.

Crimea reportedly under state of emergency after losing electricity