Roughly 1.6 million people have been left without power in the region, which was annexed past year by Moscow during an armed intervention.
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Ukraine’s Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said four power lines had been damaged and that two districts of Ukraine’s Kherson region were also left without power. Monday was declared a non-working day.
While fighting has significantly decreased between Russian-backed separatists and Ukraine’s army in the country’s east, the two countries have steadily cut trade, cultural and travel ties in the course of a painful separation that shows no signs of slowing.
The Ukrainian government responded Monday by imposing a temporary ban on trucks ferrying goods to and from Crimea. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk plans to meet leaders of the Crimean Tatar assembly, according to deputy Prime Minister Vyacheslav Kyrylenko.
The United Nations said in September that almost 8,000 people, majority civilians, have been killed in the conflict. “Crimea is Ukrainian territory”.
It was not clear who carried out the attack but several pictures of the damage showed Ukrainian flags attacked to the wrecked pylons.
The electricity feed from Ukraine was cut at 00:25am (2225 GMT), the Crimean branch of Russia’s emergency situations ministry said in a statement.
Teams have been sent to fix the downed electrical towers, but they have been met resistance from individuals in Ukraine.
“I can not rule out a link between [the perpetrators] and the authorities in Kiev”, Sergei Tsekov said.
The Crimean authorities suggested Ukraine was involved in the blasts as Crimea’s prosecutors opened a criminal probe. The ministry didn’t say who was suspected. “Every Russian embargo against Ukraine will be followed by a Ukrainian embargo against Russia”.
Crimea’s First Vice-Premier Mikhail Sheremet said the peninsula has enough fuel to continue producing electricity for 30 days, TASS reported.
Public transport is still running and Crimean hospitals are using generators.
Local officials were less sanguine. By decision of the head of the Crimean republic, a state of emergency has been introduced on the peninsula.
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A mobile gas turbine power plant works to provide electricity in Stroganovka village outside Simferopol, Crimea, Sunday, November 22, 2015.
