Explosions rock Russian military air base in Crimea

Europe, News August 9, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

One person has been killed after a series of explosions rocked the Russian air base in Crimea, the head of the Russia-appointed regional administration said. Local witnesses said that they heard at least 12 blasts.

“We have blasts at the airfield. All the windows are broken,” said Viktoria Kazmirova, deputy head of the local administration.

Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, confirmed that at least one person had died and nine were injured in the blasts. “Unfortunately, one person died,” he said. “I express my most sincere sympathies to family and friends.”

Multiple videos shared on social media showed explosions and clouds emerging from the Saky military base in Crimea’s Saki district on August 9 afternoon. Tourists holidaying on beaches nearby could be seen leaving in fear as the plumes of smoke were seen on the site. Local authorities have established a 5km (three-mile) no-go zone around the blast site.

Russia’s defense ministry told the RIA Novosti news agency that the explosions took place at about 3.20pm local time, and that “several aviation munitions detonated” in a storage area.

*^{Smoke rises after explosions were heard from the direction of a Russian military airbase near Novofedorivka, on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, Aug. 9, 2022. (Image Credit: Reuters)}*

The Saki military airfield near Novofyodorovka is used by the Russian defense ministry, including for naval aircraft, according to Russian state media TASS. The airfield has a ground-based testing and training system, one of Russia’s two such simulators to drill the skills of takeoff and landing of ship-based aircraft.

Some reports suggested that Ukrainian forces were behind the blast at the Saki Air Base on the western coast of Crimea. “This was an air base from which planes regularly took off for attacks against our forces in the southern theater,” one official said.

Ukrainian officials have not confirmed the involvement of Ukraine’s military publically. However, Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, said that “The future of the Crimea is to be a pearl of the Black Sea, a national park with unique nature and a world resort, not a military base for terrorists,” adding that “It is just the beginning.”