Crimea faces emergency as Ukraine steps up drone attacks
Authorities in Russian-controlled Crimea declared an emergency after increased Ukrainian drone attacks, Al Jazeera reported.
By Lucas Ferreira · Science & Environment Writer
2 min read
Authorities in Russian-controlled Crimea have declared a state of emergency after Ukraine increased drone attacks on the peninsula, Al Jazeera reported. The development puts renewed attention on Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014 and which Kyiv is now targeting more directly more than four years into the current war.
Al Jazeera reported that officials in the Russian-controlled region acknowledged they are facing difficult conditions. The report did not give further details on the emergency declaration or the scale of the attacks.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week announced the start of what he called a 40-day “influence operation” aimed at pressuring Russia to end the war, according to Al Jazeera. The move was presented in the report as part of a wider Ukrainian strategy in which Crimea has become a central focus.
Crimea has remained one of the most politically charged parts of the conflict since Russia’s 2014 annexation. Al Jazeera’s programme examined why the peninsula is now drawing more Ukrainian strikes and how that fits with Kyiv’s effort to increase pressure on Moscow.
Panel examines Kyiv’s strategy
The issue was discussed on a 28-minute Al Jazeera programme presented by James Bays. The guests were Leonid Ragozin, an independent journalist focused on Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe; Yulia Kazdobina, a senior fellow in the Security Studies Programme at the Ukrainian Prism Foreign Policy Council; and Stefan Wolff, professor of international security at the University of Birmingham.
The programme framed the increase in drone attacks against Crimea as part of a broader question over whether Kyiv’s strategy can help bring the war to an end. It also linked the attacks to Zelenskyy’s newly announced 40-day campaign.
Al Jazeera reported that the state of emergency followed the increased targeting of the peninsula. The emergency declaration signals that Russian-controlled authorities in Crimea see the situation as serious, even as the report offered no public casualty figures or damage assessment.
The war’s focus on Crimea comes as Ukraine seeks new ways to put pressure on Russia. According to Al Jazeera, Zelenskyy’s “influence operation” is intended to push Moscow toward ending the conflict, though the report raised the question of whether that broader strategy can succeed.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.