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Power Reportedly Restored To 109,000 Left Without Electricity In Crimea


A new power plant under construction outside Sevastopol, where Russia has struggled to meet demand.
A new power plant under construction outside Sevastopol, where Russia has struggled to meet demand.

Energy officials say electricity was cut for hours to tens of thousands of people on the Russian-controlled Crimean Peninsula amid soaring summer temperatures and continuing supply problems on August 7.

Russia's Energy Ministry said in a statement on its website that nearly 109,000 in the region's main city, Sevastopol, and elsewhere were without power as electrical engineers set up temporary outages to relieve strained power lines.

The ministry said the restrictions on power were lifted about an hour before midnight on August 7 and power was fully restored to Sevastopol and the rest of Crimea, TASS reported.

Temperatures have been above 40 degrees Celsius for several days.

Russia illegally annexed Crimea in March 2014.

Supplies from mainland Ukraine to the Black Sea peninsula have been severely curtailed since November 2015, when two high-voltage transmission towers were destroyed in what was widely believed to be the work of Ukrainian nationalists.

Russia has struggled to keep up with demand for the region's 2 million residents, even after laying several transmission cables under the Kerch Strait in 2016.

Hospitals and other key public facilities are routinely forced to rely on generators .

With reporting by TASS
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