Introduction: Crimea Under Occupation

While official occupational media initially claimed life in Crimea remained unaffected by ongoing hostilities, independent open-source data has been telling a different story. The official narrative is now changing, at least according to the reporting of Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-installed Head of the Republic of Crimea. Source: Aksyonov’s official Telegram channel.

By analysing recent unedited video footage from the region, we can map the exact impact of recent drone strikes on Crimea’s critical infrastructure.

Travel vlogs that focus on the “slow life” are very popular. People enjoy watching others leave busy city life behind to fix up old houses, work in gardens, and raise animals in peaceful rural areas.

But what if that peaceful rural escape is actually in a war zone under illegal occupation?

The photo above shows a road sign at the entrance to Klimove (Климове). The occupiers have replaced the original with the Russian spelling, Klimovo (Климово).

Robert tries to show his daily life in Crimea as a simple homesteading story without politics. Still, his recent videos unintentionally give some of the clearest and most honest evidence of the widespread collapse of infrastructure in Crimea.

The Normalisation Narrative

To keep his channel online and avoid breaking Russian censorship laws, Robert sticks to a strictly “neutral” position. When viewers ask about the political status of Crimea, he avoids the question by saying, “Crimea belongs to the Crimeans, period.”

He also challenges international news reports. In a video from 26 June 2026, he claims that reports of Russians taking Ukrainian property illegally after 2014 are completely false:

“I don’t understand why so many people think property was taken away from anyone here after 2014… Everything here was legal. Nobody took anything from anyone.”

By only talking about his own real estate deal with an elderly local, Robert’s videos unintentionally serve as propaganda. They make the occupation authorities look like a normal, harmless government running a peaceful property market.

What the Vlog Inadvertently Reveals About Life in Crimea Under Siege

The real importance of the Polak na Krymie channel is not in what Robert says, but in what he has to show. Even though he tries to stay upbeat, his 26 June video feels like a record of a society losing access to basic modern services. Life under siege in Crimea is now a reality.

When compared with recent military events, his complaints about daily life show exactly how Ukrainian drone and missile strikes are affecting Russia’s supply lines.

Source: Z jakimi trudnościami dzisiaj 26.06 spotykają się Krymczanie (What difficulties do we have in Crimea as of 26.06).

• The authorities say these power cuts are due to “network overloads,” but the real reason is more serious. After Ukrainian drone strikes on 23 and 25 June damaged important power plants like Tavriya and Balaklava, the Russian-appointed leader of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, had to declare a State of Emergency across the peninsula on 26 June.

Sources

Russia declares state of emergency in occupied Crimea. Meduza. 26 June 2026.

Occupied Crimea’s grid takes another night of strikes as Yalta and Sevastopol lose power. Euromaidan Press. 26 June 2026.

Unstable electricity has made it hard to produce food locally. Robert says bakeries cannot bake bread because of constant power problems. He tells viewers there is no bread in his village today, and people are waiting for a special delivery tomorrow, hoping to buy enough for two days at 7:00 AM. Water pressure is also so low that it does not reach the upper floors of nearby apartment buildings.

3. Crimea Fuel Shortages and the Kerch Oil Terminal Impact

Robert says that gasoline and diesel are basically gone from local gas stations. He describes how drivers now act like “ants,” smuggling fuel across the Kerch Bridge from Russia. The authorities have started rationing, allowing only 200 litres per car, provided the fuel is carried in canisters no larger than 20 litres.

This fuel shortage is a direct result of Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil depots, including a successful strike on the Kerch oil terminal. By stopping fuel sales to civilians, the occupation authorities are trying to save what is left for the Russian military.

• This fuel shortage is a direct result of Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil depots, including a successful strike on the Kerch oil terminal. By stopping fuel sales to civilians, the occupation authorities are trying to save what is left for the Russian military.

Source: Occupation Authorities Stop Fuel Sales Across Crimea. United24 Media’s Facebook Page post. 21 June 2026.

4. A Peninsula Isolated: The Crimea Railway Shutdown

For someone living in the countryside, long-distance travel is now very difficult. Robert says the main railway from Simferopol to Kerch is closed to long-distance passenger trains. People who want to go to Moscow or St. Petersburg cannot use the main train stations any more. Instead, they have to take local buses to Kerch or cross the bridge to Taman in Russia before they can catch a train.

• This disruption happened after several successful attacks by partisans and drones on railway infrastructure, including a deadly strike on a train engine on 8 June. The land corridor and railways are no longer safe for Russia; they have become active combat zones.

Source: Rail Service Suspended in Parts of Crimea After Deadly Drone Attack on Train. Moscow Times. 8 June 2026.

The Digital Iron Curtain

Even keeping his YouTube channel running is a struggle for Robert. He says he spends $18 on a premium Western VPN service (Torguard) to get around internet censorship, but Russian regulators quickly block these servers within days.

“I am a YouTuber, and I have massive problems sending videos… You have to go through so many combinations just to get your internet out to Europe or the rest of the world. One day it works, the next it doesn’t.”

Conclusion

The Polak na Krymie channel is an interesting look at human psychology. It shows a man who wants to hide from reality, take care of his chickens, and keep saying that “life in Crimea goes on normally, without panic.”

Still, his video is clear evidence of what is happening. No matter how much you try to stay “apolitical” and pretend life is normal under occupation, you cannot hide the empty bakeries, the lack of fuel, the stopped trains, and the power outages. The infrastructure is falling apart, and the war is quickly catching up with Crimea.

Source Video: Z jakimi trudnościami dzisiaj 26.06.2026 spotykają się Krymczanie (What difficulties do we have in Crimea as of 26 June 2026)

From Robert’s video series: Life during the energy crisis in Crimea. Note: The uploaded videos are three to four days behind schedule. Robert says in the videos that this is due to prolonged power and communication outages.

During the first four days of Robert’s reports, Crimea experiences a rapid breakdown of vital services. Homes go without electricity for most of the day because of long, unpredictable blackouts. Even when the power comes back for a short time, internet and mobile networks still do not work, so people cannot get news, emergency alerts, or evacuation updates. Water stops running whenever the pumps lose power, making this the first time locals have lost electricity, water, and communication all at once.

Fuel shortages make the crisis worse. Gas cylinder deliveries are unpredictable. Without regular fuel or working communications, people cannot plan, coordinate, or get the supplies they need.

At the same time, supply lines and public infrastructure get worse. People hear explosions but cannot confirm what happened. Mobile towers stop working within minutes because backup batteries run out. There is almost no official information about repairs or outages. Authorities start putting large generators at main pumping stations to bring back water on a set schedule, which shows the grid has been badly damaged. Solar panels are the only dependable energy source, but they do not always perform well due to weather and the size of outages.

To summarise, Days 1 to 4 show a region dealing with widespread failure. Electricity supply is unstable, water systems are breaking down, fuel is hard to find, communications are failing, and people are forced to rely on makeshift ways to get by.

Source: Pole in Crimea’s YouTube channel. Days 1 to 4 covering 6 to 10 July 2026.

Note: All of Robert’s YouTube videos are in Polish. If closed captions do not show a version in English, you can view the original Polish transcripts. If you are unable to follow along in Polish, you can ask your favourite AI tool to translate the content. Robert’s daily updates are a detailed blow-by-blow account of how life in Crimea under siege is impacting daily life on the peninsula.

Extra Reading

No Gas, No Lights, No Comms, No Tourists: Ukraine’s Crimea Blockade Starts To Bite. Radio Free Europe. 11 July 2026.

Ukraine Control Map marks the Crimean electricity substations that have been hit.

Map of hits on Crimean electricity substations: 1 July to 9 July 2026

Daily Ukraine map thread for Thursday 9th July 2026

On top of the 15 or so ships hit today (bringing the total above 30 for the last few days), substations across Crimea have been whacked heavily. The ones circled below are just some of those we've seen footage of since July 1st… pic.twitter.com/p6FPcFO8Hd

— Ukraine Control Map (@UAControlMap) July 9, 2026

To view the map in high resolution, you can go to the X post, and look for the option to “Open Image in New Tab”.

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