“Summer was nothing compared to this”: Severe blackouts leave residents in Russian-occupied Crimea facing days without power, water and heat

Residents of Russian-occupied Crimea are grappling with an unprecedented energy crisis, leaving them without electricity, water, and heat for extended periods. In some areas, power outages last up to 20 hours a day, with water and heating supplies also disappearing during these blackouts. Children have been seen wearing coats in classrooms, daycares have lacked hot meals, and medical clinics have ceased to see patients.

Residents are forced to spend money on fuel for generators to keep their homes warm and their appliances running. Sevastopol, the city under Russian control, is only receiving about half of the electricity it needs.

Authorities in Sevastopol have acknowledged the severity of the situation, with residents recording video appeals to President Vladimir Putin expressing their frustration. One video, originally posted on Instagram, showed two women describing the dire conditions, stating that they had only two hours of electricity daily. In some buildings, water and heating also vanished when the power went out.

The women added that residents were turning on all electrical appliances they could in an attempt to cope with the extreme cold, with elderly people and children suffering the most.

The crisis started in the summer, but residents note that the current situation is far worse than the 2015 energy crisis that followed Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea. The unpredictability of the blackouts before has given way to a complete lack of outage schedule, with power being turned on at the discretion of energy officials.

Some neighborhoods experience electricity for just two hours a day, while others may have it for 20 or even 48 hours. The uneven distribution of power has led to anger and frustration among residents, with some comparing the current situation to the 2015 crisis, during which Crimea experienced widespread blackouts due to a lack of electricity from mainland Ukraine.

The energy shortage has impacted schools, kindergartens, and medical facilities, with children missing hot meals and hospitals operating on generators. One resident's children spent an entire school day without electricity, while a daycare center lacked power for a full day. In some cases, cooks were called in at night to prepare meals before the next outage. The situation has become so dire that residents are wondering whether anyone outside of Crimea is aware of their plight.