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Puffs of smoke near the Russian military base in Crimea
Photo: STRINGER / REUTERS
Huge explosions rocked a key Russian air force base on the Crimean peninsula, annexed in 2014, on Tuesday.
Videos circulated on social networks showing detonations and large clouds of smoke in the immediate vicinity of Black Sea beaches.
They are said to have been taken near the village of Nowofyodorovka, not far from the seaside resort of Yevpatoria.
One person is said to have been killed and seven others injured in the incident.
The cause of the explosions at the Russian base in Saki is still unclear.
The
Ukrainian Ministry
of Defense said it could not say anything about the cause.
The
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak
also commented on the subject.
When asked by the independent Russian television channel Dozhd whether Kyiv was responsible for the explosions, he replied: "Of course not.
What do we have to do with it?” Podoljak had previously explained: “This is just the beginning.” Crimea has a future as a travel paradise without Russian occupation.
Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again
promised his compatriots that Crimea would be liberated.
"Crimea is Ukrainian and we will never give it up," he said in a video message on Tuesday.
With the annexation in 2014, Russia turned Crimea into one of the most dangerous places.
"The Black Sea region cannot be safe as long as Crimea is occupied," said Zelenskyy.
"This Russian war against Ukraine, against all of free Europe, started with Crimea and must end with Crimea, with its liberation."
A
source in Russia's defense ministry
cited a violation of fire safety rules as the most likely cause of the blasts.
"There are no signs, proofs or even facts that the ammunition was deliberately detonated." According to Moscow, no aircraft were damaged.
However, the first videos, which have not yet been verified, suggested that fighter planes were also destroyed.
The
New York Times
reported that the Ukrainian army had attacked the key Russian air base with an undisclosed weapon of its own design.
The newspaper refers to an unnamed senior Ukrainian military.
Local partisans who are loyal to Ukraine also played a role in the attack.
Internationally, the peninsula with its more than two million inhabitants is still regarded as Ukrainian territory.
Russia, on the other hand, regards Crimea as its territory and has repeatedly threatened retaliation if Ukraine attacks the peninsula.
A massive attack on Russian military installations in Crimea would be the second symbolic success for Ukraine: in mid-April the cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was sunk.
Ukraine: Russia wants to connect occupied nuclear plant to Crimea
Last weekend, the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia in the city of Enerhodar was shelled several times.
Russia and Ukraine blame each other for this.
The allegations have not yet been verified independently.
After all, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sees no immediate threat to nuclear safety after the shelling.
This was announced by IAEA boss Rafael Mariano Grossi.
Ukrainian authorities informed the IAEA that although there was damage, radiation measurements remained at normal levels.
The government in Moscow requested a meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday to deal with the shelling of the nuclear power plant.
The Council is to be informed by Grossi about the condition of the nuclear power plant on Thursday afternoon (New York time).
The nuclear power plant has been occupied by the Russian army since early March.
And according to the President of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom, Petro Kotin, Russia wants to connect it to Crimea.
The Russian soldiers at the nuclear power plant would implement a plan by the Russian nuclear company Rosatom to connect the nuclear power plant "to the Crimean power grid," said Kotin.
"To do this, the power lines of the nuclear power plant, which are connected to the Ukrainian energy system, must first be damaged," Kotin said on Ukrainian television.
“Between August 7th and 9th the Russians already damaged three power lines.
Currently the plant runs with a single production line, which is an extremely dangerous mode of work.«
aar/dpa/AFP