The Ukrainian government has denied responsibility for explosions that rocked an airbase deep inside Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine on Tuesday.
At least one person was killed and eight were injured in the blasts near the town of Novofedorivka on the western coast of the Crimean Peninsula on Tuesday. At least 12 explosions were heard coming from the Saky air base, and images from seaside resorts near the base show large plumes rising into the air after the blasts, according to reports. Russian officials said the explosions were the result of the detonation of stored ammunition and not any sort of Ukrainian attack.
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“People who are living under occupation understand that the occupation is coming to an end,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said when asked about the blasts, suggesting saboteurs may have been responsible.
Podolyak denied Kyiv was responsible for the devastation at the air base.
“Of course not. What do we have to do with this?” Podolyak said when asked if Ukrainian forces played any role in causing the explosions.
Zelensky did not discuss the explosions directly in his nightly address on Tuesday, but he vowed to “liberate” Crimea and said, “This Russian war against Ukraine and against the entire free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea — with its liberation.”
“Russia has turned our peninsula, which has always been and will be one of the best places in Europe, into one of the most dangerous places in Europe. But we will return to the Ukrainian Crimea,” he added.
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The Saky air base is about 30 miles north of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol, where in July Russia accused Ukraine of conducting a drone attack that injured five people.
Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
