Southern Russia in blackout: Heatwave and drone attacks to blame
In many southern regions of Russia, there is currently no power. According to the latest Russian daily "Kommersant data," nearly 600,000 people are cut off from electricity supplies. The Ministry of Energy claims this results from "abnormally high temperatures."
6:59 AM EDT, July 10, 2024
A heatwave has hit southern Russia. According to weather.com, for example, the temperature in Rostov-on-Don was 100°F on Tuesday. The Ministry of Energy believes this is the "main cause" of power outages and production shortages.
According to official data released by the ministry, 324,000 people in the Rostov region, 181,000 in Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Adygea, and 94,300 in the Astrakhan region are without power. In total, this is just under 600,000 Russians.
"Kommersant" notes that a schedule of temporary power outages was introduced in the country's southern regions on July 8. "In conditions of high demand, wholesale electricity prices in the south are rising twice as fast as in the entire European part of the country," the daily writes.
Ukrainian drones attack power plants in Russia
In its statement, the ministry did not specify what is causing the production shortages. However, "Rzeczpospolita" reported last week that Ukrainian drones are increasingly accurately attacking and destroying power plants, transformer stations, and power grids in southern Russia.
The daily recalled that Russian local authorities warned citizens about power outages. They indicated this resulted from "external influence" or "technological disruptions." However, they remained silent about the nighttime attack by Ukrainian drones on power plants.
The shortages in supplies have caused widespread problems. The lack of traffic lights has resulted in traffic chaos and heat in cities; there is also a lack of water from taps due to issues with pressure in the water supply system.
