Ammunition depot destroyed – Russia talks of “act of sabotage” after new explosion in Crimea

Another explosion has occurred at a military complex in Crimea, a Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula linked to Russia, according to officials. An ammunition depot exploded in northern Crimea on Tuesday morning, officials said.

The Ministry of Defense in Moscow speaks of a “sabotage”. An army camp was hit in the attack on Tuesday morning. Moscow reported that several public facilities were damaged, including power lines, a power plant and railway lines, and some residential buildings.

Videos on social networks showed a huge fire and a cloud of smoke. The head of the Crimean administration, Sergei Aksyonov, said at the site in the Zhankoy region that two were wounded. According to official reports, 2000 people had to be brought to safety.

Train traffic was disrupted

A shocked Aksyonov said the Russian Defense Ministry should comment on the causes of the explosion. At first it was only said that there was a fire in the warehouse.

The explosions continued, Aksyonov explained in a video message on his blog on the Telegram news channel. “Evacuation is underway, and a five-kilometer safety zone is being created for the safety of residents,” Aksyonov said. People are temporarily housed in schools. Defense Department, National Guard and Civil Defense Force have been deployed to douse the fire.

According to officials, the explosion occurred in the village of Myskoi, on the site of a former farm used as an ammunition depot by the Russian armed forces. The substation for power supply must also have caught fire. The first information about this came from Ukrainian sources in the morning.

It was the third military incident in Crimea this summer — and one with far-reaching consequences. According to Acciono, train services were disrupted in the region. People will be taken to their destinations by bus, he said. Train connections from Moscow run through Dschankoi via the new Crimean Bridge to Simferopol, the capital on the peninsula. Trains from Moscow should only go as far as Vladislava. As air traffic is suspended, many tourists use the train in summer to travel to Black Sea resorts.

Ukraine again points to attack

A week ago on Tuesday Heavy bombs exploded at a Russian military base. According to officials, one person was killed and 14 injured in the explosions at the site in Sakhi, near the resort town of Novfeodorovka. Experts believe it attacked the Ukrainian base and destroyed several warplanes. However, Kiev has not officially confirmed the attack. On the other hand, Russia claims that the explosion was caused by fire safety violations.

“This is just the beginning,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak wrote on Twitter after last week’s explosion. He now wrote about the new incident: “The morning began with explosions near Tachankoj. As a reminder: the Crimea of ​​an ordinary country means the Black Sea, mountains, recreation and tourism; Russian-occupied Crimea is a high risk of warehouse explosions and raiders and thieves. Militarization is underway.”