Moscow officials claimed sabotage after an attack on a military facility in Crimea showed the potential of a Ukrainian assault amid the rising tensions of the invasion.
Ukrainian forces struck a military target in Crimea on Aug. 9, which is the first attack in the area since Moscow invaded and illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014. There were at least six blasts that rocked Russia's Saki air base, which is home to the 43rd Independent Naval Attack Aviation Regiment.
Crimea Explosions
More explosions were observed on Tuesday at an ammunition dump in northern Crimea and Russia's Defense Ministry said that a fire at a "temporary ammunition storage site" caused the blast.
In both cases, Ukrainian officials stated that their military troops were involved, which suggests how their forces might be using the training that they received from Western special-operations forces since 2014.
The Saki Air Base explosions on Aug. 9 resulted in the destruction of at least eight aircraft, with Ukraine officials saying nine, including Su-30SM fighter jets and Su-24M fighter-bomber. The blasts also destroyed ammunition, fuel supplies, and aircraft storage facilities, as per Business Insider.
On the other hand, Russia said that the blasts were caused by accidental detonations of munitions and blamed the destruction on fire-safety violations. Western officials have not yet determined what caused the blasts but noted that they were not caused by a U.S.-supplied weapon, ruling out the powerful M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
Some Ukrainian officials also denied responsibility but others noted that their forces were involved in the explosions at the base. The European nation could have used a domestically developed long-range missile but it is not clear if such a weapon is currently in service.
According to CNN, there were around 2,000 residents in the area that Russian officials evacuated following the blasts. Furthermore, Russian state media RIA Novosti noted that train services from Russia into Crimea were suspended.
Claims of Sabotage
A Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhaylo Podolyak, posted on Twitter that "Crimea occupied by Russians is about warehouses explosions and high risk of death for invaders and thieves. Demilitarization in action."
Footage of the facility was posted on social media last week that showed large ammunition sacks and several military vehicles with "Z" markings. The head of the Crimea administration Sergei Aksyonov said on his Telegram channel that the people in the area were taken out of the five-kilometer zone from the incident.
Later, Podolyak said that a nearby substation that was being used to divert power from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was also affected by the explosions at the depot. In an interview, the official said that the situation was "karmic retribution."
The explosions at the military facility also come as Russian President Vladimir Putin described Crimea as a "sacred place." And the Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, warned last month that attacks on the peninsula could result in a "doomsday, very quick and tough, immediately," USA Today reported.
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