Sevastopol internet drops after drone strikes on power grid

NetBlocks has confirmed a significant decline in internet connectivity in parts of occupied Crimea. Sevastopol took the hardest hit.

According to the observatory, the drop corresponds to power outages after Ukrainian drone attacks on energy infrastructure.

NetBlocks is an independent group that tracks internet availability across countries through measurements and reports on outages. Sevastopol is the main base of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and most countries do not recognize that.

The Crimean power system has been vulnerable before. In November 2015, after transmission pylons were blown up in Ukraine’s Kherson region, the peninsula lost its usual supply from the Ukrainian mainland. Russia responded by building an energy bridge across the Kerch Strait from Krasnodar Krai, and Crimea has since drawn a large share of its electricity from there.

Connectivity collapses without power far beyond war zones. KRAKOBIT reported that on November 2 the internet on La Palma went down after storms knocked out electricity.

Source: NetBlocks