Russian authorities in Crimea declared a state of emergency this week, as Ukrainian attacks caused fuel shortages and power cuts, threatening the vital peninsula.
Fuel is now only available to government agencies, not ordinary citizens or businesses, according to Crimea’s Russian-installed government. Children’s summer camps have been cancelled and there are frequent air raid sirens.
Photographs showed queues of cars waiting for fuel, while video footage reportedly showed traffic jams as residents attempted to flee Crimea, over the Kerch Bridge into Russia.
The state of emergency came into force at 1pm on Friday, local time, and will stay in place until the situation stabilises, according to the Moscow-installed governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov.
During the state of emergency, authorities are granted the power to restrict freedom of movement, halt enterprise operations and carry out forced evacuations, the Kyiv Post reports.
Russia invaded and seized Crimea in 2014, and the largest port city of Sevastopol has been home to the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
Queue at the Crimean Bridge — thousands of Russians are trying to leave the occupied peninsula. pic.twitter.com/cUtmmcaK1s
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) June 26, 2026In recent weeks, Ukraine has escalated its attacks there in a bid to increase pressure on the Kremlin, attacking Sevastopol’s main power substation seven times in the early hours of Wednesday, according to Ukrainian forces cited by CNN.
Kyiv said the ongoing strikes were part of its efforts to “isolate” Crimea from Russia, which annexed the region from Ukraine in 2014, and turn it into an “island.”
“Hell is beginning,” said Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov earlier this month. “Logistics are being cut off. Crimea is being isolated.”
On Friday morning, 2,800 vehicles were attempting to leave Crimea and travel via the bridge to southern Russia, according to the Russian state news agency Tass, as cited by CNN, with nearly twice as many cars seeking to leave the peninsula as to enter.
The state of emergency came into force at 1pm on Friday, local time, and will stay in place until the situation stabilises, local authorities say (Photo: Alexey Pavlishak/Reuters)Crimea is a popular holiday destination for Russians, but there are reports of tourists rushing to return as a result of the attacks. There are reports that at least four people have been killed in the attacks but the figure is not yet clear.
Natia Seskuria, Senior Fellow in Russian and Eurasian Security at defence think-tank RUSI, said that the crisis in Crimea was “strategically and symbolically damaging for [Vladimir] Putin”.
“It shows that Russia can spend money to invest in fortifying Crimea, but it cannot reliably defend it against a smart, persistent Ukrainian strike campaign,” she said.
“Having spent years militarising Crimea and presenting it as one of the most protected regions in Russia, the fact that Ukrainian forces are repeatedly hitting critical infrastructure there exposes several vulnerabilities.
Cars line up at a petrol station in Simferopol, Crimea, amid fuel shortages on the peninsula (Photo: AP)“It suggests that Russian air defence can be saturated or bypassed and that they cannot fully shield high‑value nodes even in a priority theatre. In practical terms, Moscow is unable to guarantee the security of the logistics and energy infrastructure.”
Crimea’s strategic importance is both military and political, Seskuria said, giving Russia control of the Black Sea and a base for its Black Sea Fleet, which helps it attack the south of Ukraine, providing logistics for the wider invasion and a land corridor to the occupied Ukrainian territories.
“Ukraine’s attacks on bridges, fuel depots and other critical infrastructure are directly eroding that utility,” Seskuria said. “By disrupting power, fuel and transport, they create mounting logistical problems for Russia, making it harder and more costly to move troops, ammunition and supplies through Crimea.”
Ukrainian forces have used drones to establish de facto control over traffic on the federal highway R-280 “Novorossiya,” connecting Russia with Crimea through occupied Ukrainian territories, according to the Kyiv Post.
A satellite image shows smoke rising from Crimea Bridge following a Ukrainian attack (Photo: Vantor/Reuters)There have also been reports of explosions close to the Kerch ferry crossing on Friday. This area is a key hub for military logistics, particularly for Russian operations in southern Ukraine, and links Crimea to Russia.
It comes as part of Ukraine’s 40-day operation, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said is aimed at “pressuring Russia to end its war”. It is also designed to cut off Russian logistics to weaken them on the battlefield.
Ukrainian forces have hit a series of targets deep inside Russia in recent weeks, hitting St Petersburg earlier this month in an unprecedented attack, as the city hosted the final day of an economic forum.
This comes after an attack on a Moscow oil refinery earlier this month in what was one of the largest strikes on the city since the war began.
A closed gas station in Saki, Crimea, after local authorities suspended petrol sales to the public and businesses due to a fuel crisis caused by Ukrainian attacks on its supply routes (Photo: Alexey Pavlishak/Reuters)Such visible attacks help to cut through Kremlin disinformation around the war to Russian-controlled populations, she added.
“Ukraine is deliberately sending a message that Russia cannot reliably protect even the territory it has showcased as trophies of victory. By hitting fuel depots, power infrastructure and logistics, Kyiv is exposing how vulnerable the peninsula is and bringing the reality of the war much closer to Russians,” said Seskuria.
“That is a significant success in the information space as it deconstructs Putin’s narrative that Crimea is safe and prosperous under Russian rule, and it undercuts the broader Kremlin line that this is a distant conflict from which ordinary Russians will remain insulated.”
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