Explosions rocked a massive Russian airbase in Crimea, killing one and injuring others. The series of explosions rocked the key air base and sowed confusion among local officials about the cause and whether Ukraine’s military could threaten targets on the peninsula.
Publicly, Ukrainian officials would not officially confirm the involvement of its military. Russian and occupation officials meanwhile scrambled to determine the source of the blasts, raising the terrorist threat level in the area.
But a senior Ukrainian official said his country’s forces were responsible for the blast, having carried out an attack on the Saki air base on the western coast of Crimea.
The top official said the air base was one from which planes took off regularly for attacks on Ukrainian forces. The type of weapon used to cause the explosion was not confirmed, saying that it was “a device exclusively of Ukrainian manufacture” that was used.
If Ukraine did attack Russian forces in Crimea, it would represent a significant expansion of Ukraine’s offensive efforts. So far, Ukrainian military efforts have been mostly confined to pushing Russian troops from territories that have been occupied after the invasion began on February 24.
For weeks, however, Ukraine has been shifting troops and striking deeper behind the front lines than before, as it signals that it is preparing a major counteroffensive in the Kherson region and uses longer-range weapons supplied by Western allies.
Crimea is shielded by the Russian navy and is heavily fortified by Russia after eight years of its control. This has meant the key peninsula has largely been spared the violence.
A strike in Crimea would be a massive embarrassment for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who speaks often of the peninsula as if it were hallowed ground.
As with past explosions and fires in occupied territory or within Russian borders, Ukrainian officials hint at involvement but make no public admissions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared that the war with Russia “began with Crimea and must end with Crimea.”
A senior adviser to Zelensky Mykhailo Podolyak said: “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. It is just the beginning.”
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