Crimean families queue for hot meals as Ukraine hits power supply

Russia occupied the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Now, Ukraine is intensifying strikes on the Ukrainian territory its neighbour controls.

Listen Summarise Ukrainian attacks on Crimea's power plants have caused widespread electricity outages, forcing residents to rely on communal hot meals prepared outdoors. Local officials serve around 200 people daily in Massandra, helping those who cannot cook due to lack of power. Residents face hardships, with some struggling to access alternative cooking methods and uncertain electricity restoration times. AI generated

MASSANDRA, Crimea - Under a blazing summer sun, a chef poured oil into huge pots set up on a street in the Crimean town of Massandra, preparing to serve dozens of people queuing for a hot meal after Ukrainian attacks cut power to their own kitchens.

Cities and towns across Crimea - which Russia occupied in 2014 and claimed to have annexed from Ukraine - have had to cope with limited fuel supplies for much of the summer amid Ukrainian attacks on power plants and other infrastructure.

Ukraine - whose cities have been under repeated attack since Moscow sent thousands of troops into the country in 2022 - says it is “bringing the war back home to Russia” by intensifying strikes deep inside the country and on the Ukrainian territory its neighbour controls.

Standing beside boiling vats of buckwheat, later to be added to plates of reheated tinned beef, Massandra town administration head Oksana Madyud said her workers were serving roughly 200 people per day.

“We’re preparing hot meals for people, as under the current circumstances not everyone has the means to cook hot food on electric hobs,” she said.

One local woman, Marina, said pain in her leg was making the climb down from her 10th-floor apartment difficult, but the lack of electricity had sent her hunting for a gas cooker and some cylinders.

“There’s nothing up there,” she said, referring to her apartment. “We’ve got an electric cooker - that’s it.”

Another older resident, Alexandra, said she had been lured down by the smell of the lunch after going without electricity for 10 days.

“They turned it back on today, at 4 o’clock” in the afternoon, but she wasn’t sure the lights would still be on when she returned home, she added. REUTERS

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