A state of emergency has been declared in Crimea after pylons carrying electricity from Ukraine were blown up cutting off power to almost two million people.
The Russian Energy Ministry didn't say what had caused the outages, but Russian media reported that two pylons in the Kherson region of Ukraine north of Crimea had been blown up by Ukrainian nationalists.
The attack, if by Ukrainian nationalists opposed to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year, is likely to further increase tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Crimea was annexed by Russia last year but depends on Ukraine for most of its electricity supplies.
The two transmission towers in Kherson, Ukraine, were first damaged on Friday. Ukrainian activists, including Crimean Tatars, tried to block repair works on Saturday, but retreated after clashes with police.
The Interfax news agency said police official Ilya Kiva wrote on Facebook Saturday evening that the repairs had been completed, but shortly after midnight wrote a new post saying the towers had been hit by new explosions. It was not immediately clear who was responsible.
Russia's emergency services said power was being supplied to vital services on Sunday.
Reuters
