Crimea’s wine industry is collapsing under fuel shortages and power outages, growers say

Crimea's wine industry is collapsing under fuel shortages and power outages caused by Ukrainian strikes, Meduza reports. Winemakers describe cascading failures: tourist traffic has nearly vanished, wine sales have dropped ninety-nine percent, and power outages have cut off internet access, making online sales impossible. Without fuel for tractors, workers hand-spray vines manually. Black market diesel costs two hundred to three hundred rubles per liter. As the mid-August harvest approaches, some growers plan to abandon their crop rather than pay inflated fuel costs to bring it in.

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