Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Representatives of Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) blew up a power substation in the port city of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea overnight on April 2, a source in HUR confirmed to the Kyiv Independent.
Local residents reportedly heard explosions at night, after which one of the districts of Sevastopol was partially left without electricity as a result of an alleged "accident at a substation," according to Krym Realii media outlet.
The Russian proxy leader in Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, denied the reports that a power substation was blown up, claiming that the reason for the power outage was "a short circuit."
Military intelligence occasionally reports on resistance forces' operations in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Ukrainian special forces reportedly landed in Russian-occupied Crimea and conducted a combat operation in the autumn of 2023.
Over the past weeks, Ukraine carried out a series of drone strikes aimed at damaging oil industry deep inside Russia. Moscow could have lost at least 10% of the country's refinery capacity after these attacks, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on March 23.
Read also: Ukrainian drones hit one Russian oil refinery after another
In an interview with the Washington Post on March 29, President Volodymyr Zelensky asserted that targeting Russian energy infrastructure is a legitimate military strategy.
The strikes serve as retaliation for Russian attacks on critical infrastructure and align with Ukraine's military objectives, Zelensky said.
The interview followed media reports that the U.S. had asked Ukraine to stop attacking the Russian oil industry.
Advisor to Ukraine's Presidential Office head Mykhailo Podolyak denied the reports, saying Kyiv did not receive such calls from Washington.