Beachgoers watch explosions at Russian military airfield in Crimea

Sunbathers fled a nearby beach as huge clouds of smoke rose over the horizon
People rest on a beach as smoke and flames rise at a Russian military base
People rest on a beach as smoke and flames rise at a Russian military base
REUTERS
Miriam Burrell9 August 2022

A powerful explosion rocked a Russian air base in Crimea, killing one person and wounding several others, while sunbathers watched on.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said munitions blew up at the Saki base. Ukraine has denied responsibility.

Videos posted to social media showed sunbathers fleeing a nearby beach as huge clouds of smoke from the explosions rose over the horizon.

The headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean port of Sevastopol was hit by a small-scale explosion delivered by a makeshift drone last month in an attack blamed on Ukrainian saboteurs.

Crimea’s head Sergei Aksyonov said ambulances and medical helicopters were sent to the Saki air base and the area was sealed off.

One person was killed, according to the regional leader of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov.

Earlier authorities reported that five people were wounded, with one of them hospitalised and the others treated for cuts from shards of glass and released.

Rising smoke seen from beach at Saky
Rising smoke seen from beach at Saky
AP

Officials in Moscow have long warned Ukraine that any attack on Crimea would trigger massive retaliation, including strikes on “decision-making centers” in Kyiv.

The Saki base was used by Russian warplanes to strike areas in Ukraine’s south on short notice.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said that at least three Ukrainian civilians were killed and 23 wounded by Russian shelling in 24 hours, including an attack not far from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The Russians fired over 120 rockets at the town of Nikopol, which is across the Dnieper River from the plant, Dnipropetrovsk Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko said. Several apartment buildings and industrial sites were damaged, he said.

Ukraine and Russia have accused each other in recent days of shelling the power station, the biggest nuclear plant in Europe, stoking international fears of a catastrophe.

In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for new sanctions against Russia, accusing it of risking another nuclear disaster.

“We are actively informing the world about Russian nuclear blackmail,” he said.

The Kremlin claimed that Ukraine’s military was attacking the plant and urged Western powers to force Kyiv to stop.

The Ukrainians in recent weeks have been mounting counterattacks in Russian-occupied areas of southern Ukraine while also trying to hold off the Kremlin’s forces in the country’s industrial Donbas region in the east.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in