ASTRA identified the burning site from eyewitness videos as a facility at 8 Novozavodskaya Street. Local channels reported numerous explosions, and residents in chat groups described a street being closed and disruptions to electricity and water. ASTRA cited an unconfirmed suggestion that the nearby Tolyatti thermal power plant was hit.
Tolyattikauchuk has been part of the Tatneft group since 2019 and produces synthetic rubbers, monomers and additives for automobile gasoline. Its rubbers are used, among other things, in the production of solid rocket fuel.
In annexed Crimea, electricity began failing around 00:40, according to the Krymsky Veter monitoring channel. Outages were recorded in Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta, Yevpatoria, Kerch, Feodosia, Alushta, Dzhankoi, Saky, Sudak, Armyansk, Krasnoperekopsk and other settlements.
Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, said the cause was an accident on power grids outside the peninsula. Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russia-installed governor of Sevastopol, said the city lost electricity as a result of an attack on energy infrastructure beyond its borders.
Krymsky Veter reported a fire at the 500/220 kV Taman substation in Krasnodar Krai, saying satellite monitoring recorded thermal anomalies near the facility at about 02:26. The Exilenova+ channel, citing NASA FIRMS satellite data, also reported a fire at the site. The Kuban operational headquarters confirmed, according to The Moscow Times, that "debris" struck the substation and that a fire followed.
The Taman substation is part of the energy bridge across the Kerch Strait that supplies electricity from Russia to annexed Crimea. Sources told Krymsky Veter the region was left "only on its own generation," and one said its own output would suffice only to switch on power in individual settlements in turn, while the attacked Taman substation was still not connected.
The NetBlocks service recorded near-zero internet traffic from the peninsula. The occupation authorities imposed "restrictions on the supply of electricity and water" in Crimea, according to Sergei Aksyonov, the head of Crimea appointed by Russia. Trolleybuses were halted in Sevastopol, and water in part of the Leninsky district is being supplied at reduced pressure. Razvozhayev said about 40% of base stations were working in the city.
At about 01:37 Kryuchkov reported that electricity supply to Crimea had been restored, with settlements to be connected as capacity increased. Krymsky Veter then reported that power in Simferopol, Yalta and Alushta had failed again. On the morning of October 24, channel subscribers said electricity had returned in Sevastopol at about 04:00 and in Simferopol at about 04:30. Supply remained disrupted in Dzhankoi, Yalta, Sudak, Inkerman and several districts of the peninsula.
There was no official information from the Ukrainian military about a possible strike on the Taman substation at the time of publication.
Accounts differ: Razvozhayev and Aksyonov attribute the blackout to a drone attack on energy infrastructure, while Kryuchkov initially spoke of "an accident on power grids outside Crimea" without mentioning an attack. There is no independent confirmation of the cause of the outages: Telegram channels and satellite services reported a fire at the substation in Krasnodar Krai, and the Kuban operational headquarters confirmed it.