Summer camps are being canceled and evacuated. Gas is nowhere to be found. People are fleeing. And now the electricity is flickering out.<\/p>\n
Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, is reeling from an air campaign that Kyiv has escalated more than four years into a war that remains largely stalemated on the front lines.<\/p>\n
The situation has added a new pressure point for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, as advances in Ukrainian drone and missile production enable Kyiv to launch bigger attacks that can more easily overwhelm Russian air defenses farther away from the front.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian officials have described the Crimea campaign as an important strategic development that could help end the war, and gloated about their success in attacking oil infrastructure, military targets and vital supply routes into the peninsula.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are closing the beach season in Crimea,\u201d Ukraine\u2019s defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, said in a post Monday on Facebook. Ukrainian forces struck an oil depot, gas compressor stations, air defense systems and radar systems across the peninsula in recent days, he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe forecast for tourists is unfavorable,\u201d added Mr. Fedorov, who previously said the goal was to turn Crimea into an \u201cisland.\u201d<\/p>\n
The attacks in Crimea come days after Kyiv undertook its largest drone assault on Moscow since the start of the war<\/a>, with part of the Russian capital\u2019s main oil refinery going up in flames. Together, the onslaughts have underscored how Mr. Putin\u2019s ability to isolate Russian society from the impacts of the war is sharply eroding.<\/p>\n The Russian leader has not commented publicly on the attacks, a conspicuous silence for many Russians, who are asking how their government will respond. Earlier this month, Mr. Putin said Russia must improve its air defenses to intercept such Ukrainian attacks.<\/p>\n The strikes in Russia continued on Monday with a giant billowing explosion at an electronics equipment factory in Voronezh, in the country\u2019s southwest. Ukraine said the plant, which has been placed under Western sanctions, produced electronics for Russian cruise and ballistic missiles. Ukrainian forces said they struck the plant with air-launched cruise missiles.<\/p>\n For weeks, Russians have faced lines or rationing at gas stations, as Ukraine steps up attacks on oil and fuel processing facilities across Russia, in what President Volodymyr Zelensky has said is an effort to get Mr. Putin to agree to a settlement.<\/p>\n Dmitry Kiselyov, a Russian state television commentator, characterized the attacks on Crimea on his show Sunday as compensation for Ukraine\u2019s inability to make progress on the battlefield. Russia has also been struggling to move its troops forward in recent weeks<\/a>, though it has made gains in the Donetsk region<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal is to disrupt the tourist season and complicate life for Russia,\u201d Mr. Kiselyov said. \u201cThe goal is to exert pressure on the country\u2019s political leadership, in order to sign a peace agreement on Kyiv\u2019s terms.\u201d<\/p>\n Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said on Monday that Russia was trying to mitigate the consequences of what he called Kyiv\u2019s \u201cbarbaric actions,\u201d noting that work was underway to ensure fuel supplies.<\/p>\n The Kremlin-backed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, announced in a statement on Sunday that fuel sales outside the main city, Sevastopol, which functions as its own region, would be suspended. He said fuel would be supplied exclusively to services essential for Crimea\u2019s operations and security, and asked residents to remain calm and trust only official government sources.<\/p>\n In Sevastopol, the fuel restrictions were so far in place only for Monday and Tuesday.<\/p>\n Anastasia Kharitskaya, who owns a farming business that includes lavender fields, was struggling to hold back tears as she filmed herself for a social media post<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cCrimea has run out of gasoline,\u201d she said. \u201cOur lavender season is just about to begin. We have 17 hectares of lavender fields in Crimea \u2014 and 60 liters of gas. And there\u2019s no gasoline on sale, and we can\u2019t reach our fields.\u201d<\/p>\n