BERLIN (Sputnik) — Over the weekend, millions of the residents of Crimea, which rejoined Russia in 2014, were left without electricity due to downed transmission towers in southern Ukraine. Repairs are being delayed by a blockade of the power lines by groups of Ukrainian nationalists, as Ukraine refuses to set a repairs timetable. Ukraine also banned Russian planes from entering its airspace from Thursday.
"This escalation, that was evidently deliberate on Kiev's part, is causing us concern. It can impact negatively the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which is the only way to bring about a political solution to the Ukrainian conflict," Erler told Germany's Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung regional newspaper.
Russia has supplied Crimea with over 10,000 tons of fuel since the start of the blackout, which will reportedly last for another 25 days. In an attempt to ease the situation, Russia also dispatched 300 mobile generators on Tuesday and another 300 on Thursday, according to Russia's Emergency Ministry.
