Two fires broke out overnight at power substations in western occupied Crimea, satellite data showed, in what monitoring group Krymsky Veter assessed as a probable strike, extending the wave of attacks that have pushed the peninsula into rolling blackouts and a declared state of emergency.
Two substations go dark in Saky district
Fires ignited at two facilities in Saky district early on 2 July, Krymsky Veter reported, citing satellite imagery. The affected sites are the Donuzlav 220 kV substation — one of western Crimea’s primary high-voltage nodes — and the Mityaevo 110/35/10 kV substation nearby.
The Donuzlav substation sits roughly 6 km northeast of the settlement of Mirne and handles the reception and distribution of high-voltage power across the western part of the peninsula. Its rated capacity is 150 MVA (megavolt-amperes). The Mityaevo substation steps down high voltage for delivery to towns and villages in the area; it also connects to the 32 MW Mityaevo solar power plant, operational since 2012.
Western Crimea’s grid under sustained pressure
The overnight fires follow a week of mounting strikes across occupied Crimea. On 28 June, drones set the Sakska thermal power plant ablaze near Saky. The night of 29 June brought a Ukrainian drone strike on an S-300/S-400 position near Kerch and a 220/35 kV substation in Crimea’s Kurmansky district, knocking out power across occupied territories. On 25 June, Yalta and parts of Sevastopol went dark after strikes on two thermal plants.
Russian occupation utility Krymenergo announced a halt to electricity supply across parts of Crimea on 25 June. On 26 June, occupation authorities declared a peninsula-wide state of emergency.
Ukraine has been running a sustained campaign to isolate occupied Crimea — hitting fuel depots, power substations, rail crossings, and air defenses as part of what Kyiv’s navy has described as a multi-year operation to sever the peninsula’s logistics. The Crimean grid is structurally fragile: its power plants run on gas piped from the Russian mainland and on Siemens turbines that Western sanctions have left beyond proper repair, meaning each strike compounds the damage of the last.
In June, occupation authorities shut down children’s camps, suspended civilian fuel sales, and imposed rolling blackouts as strikes mounted. A fuel crisis triggered by Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure has spread across 25 Russian oblasts and six occupied Ukrainian territories, with Crimea among the hardest hit.
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