Video summary of the war Ukraine - Russia: August 10 10:35
(CNN Spanish) --
A series of explosions that occurred on Tuesday afternoon at a Russian military air base in Novofedorivka has once again focused the world's eyes on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, while the war between Ukraine and Russia.
The cause of these explosions, which appear to have destroyed or damaged at least nine Russian warplanes, has yet to be confirmed.
This is what we know so far:
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Large plumes of smoke coming from the Saki airfield over the Black Sea could be seen in numerous videos on social media.
Until now, Crimea had not been affected by the war that began in February with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, despite being very close to the front.
Regional authorities in Crimea confirmed the explosions, which occurred at 3:20 p.m. (8:20 a.m. ET), while the Russian state agency RIA Novosti reported, citing the Russian Defense Ministry, that an ammunition depot had been detonated. used by fighter planes stationed at the base, although the cause was not reported.
Russia loses at least seven warplanes in Crimea 1:37
Similarly, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry officially said it could not determine the causes.
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Although Russian state media initially reported that there had been no injuries or damage, shortly after the authorities in Crimea reported that there were at least one dead and nine injured, in addition to 30 evacuees.
Large material losses, according to satellite photos
Planet Labs satellite images released Wednesday show at least seven Russian warplanes destroyed in the blasts.
In the photos from Tuesday, before the explosions, the planes can be seen intact, while in those taken on Wednesday they can be seen destroyed or damaged, in the middle of several craters.
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Among the affected aircraft, according to satellite photos, there are Su-30 fighter-bombers and Su-24 bombers.
These models are used by the Russian naval aviation, which has been operating at the Saki base since the 2014 annexation, RIA Novosti reported.
This satellite image from Tuesday shows the Saki airfield in Crimea before the explosions.
You can see Su-30 fighters and Su-24 bombers, among others.
(Credit: Planet Labs)
The images also show two other aircraft damaged, bringing the total number of aircraft affected to at least nine.
Peter Layton, a former Australian military pilot and Asian affairs analyst at Griffith University, told CNN that the satellite images suggest a deliberate attack and not an accident, due to the presence of three large craters.
These attacks could have set off the ammunition, which then destroyed the planes.
Although Kyiv officially maintains that it cannot determine the causes of the explosions at the base, on Wednesday the Ukrainian Armed Forces added nine Russian planes to the list of enemy equipment they say they have destroyed and which they regularly post on their Facebook account.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian Air Force published this Thursday on its Twitter account one of the satellite photos of Planet Labs with red circles on the supposed destroyed planes, assuring that there are "around" 10.
This image from Wednesday, after the explosions, shows at least nine planes destroyed or damaged at Saki airfield.
(Credit: Planet Labs)
The Russian Air Force has not suffered losses on this scale since World War II, according to CNN investigations.
It has not been possible to trace the destruction of nine Russian or Soviet aircraft in one day from 1945 to the present.
Crimea at the center of the war
The Crimean peninsula, a strategic territory in the Black Sea, was annexed by Russia in February 2014, after its troops invaded the peninsula and took control without violence.
In March, Moscow organized a controversial referendum, the result of which was Crimea's entry into the Russian Federation.
Ukraine has denounced a violation of its sovereignty and rejected the referendum.
The international community still recognizes Crimea as part of Ukrainian territory: in March the UN General Assembly passed resolution 68/262 in support of Ukraine's territorial integrity.
Months later, pro-Russian rebels backed by Moscow rose up against Ukraine in the Donbas region, starting a war that continued for eight years until Russia decided to expand its reach by invading almost all of Ukraine's territory east of the Dnieper River on February 24. of this year.
On the same Tuesday as the explosions at the airfield in Novofedorivka, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the war with Russia should end with the liberation of Crimea.
"This Russian war against Ukraine and against all of free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea, its liberation," Zelensky said.
“Today it is impossible to say when this will happen.
But we constantly add the necessary components to the formula for the liberation of Crimea."
Establishing a land corridor between the Crimean peninsula and the territory of Russia has been one of Moscow's objectives in this war, according to Major General Rustam Minnekaev, acting commander of the Russian Central Military District, quoted by the TASS agency.
With the fall of Mariupol, a Ukrainian city on the Sea of Azov, this goal appeared to have been completed in May, although Ukraine has stated its intentions to regain lost territory.
With information from Brad Lendon, Paul P. Murphy, Olga Voitovuch, Karen Smith, Tim Lister, Gianluca Mezzofiore, Arnaud Siad, and Katie Polglase.
Crimea War in Ukraine