An munitions depot in Russia's annexed Crimea exploded and caught fire on Tuesday,A second suspected Ukrainian attacked the peninsula in just over a week, displacing more than 3,000 people.
Russia blamed the explosion in Maiskoye village on "sabotage" without naming the perpetrators.
Separately, the Russian business newspaper Kommersant quoted residents as saying that black smoke was also rising over an air force base in Gvardeiskoe, Crimea.
Ukraine has publicly held responsibility for any of the explosions, including one in which he shot down nine Russian planes at another Crimean air base last week. did not go so far as to claim Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in her 2014 and used it to launch attacks against the country in the war that began about six months ago.
In another reported sabotage, Russian TASS news agency said Ukrainian operatives had blown up six high-voltage power pylons in Russia's Kursk region near Ukraine earlier this month. quoted the statement of the FSB security agency.
If Ukrainian forces were behind the explosion in Crimea, it would represent a significant escalation of the war.
"Frankly, it changes the front line across the board," said the U.S. Navy. Hal Kempfer, a former intelligence officer for the Soldier, told CBS News Senior Foreign Correspondent Charlie D'Agata after last week's attack. If we continue to make profits in , we may be able to push the southern flank all the way.”
In response to the attack, Russia responded swiftly and brutally. President Vladimir Putin's forces retaliated with an increase in artillery and missile attacks on towns and villages in southern Ukraine.
The Kremlin demanded Kyiv recognize Crimea as part of Russia as a condition to end the fighting, and Ukraine vowed to drive Moscow's forces out of the Black Sea peninsula. 33}
A video posted on social media showed a thick pillar Mayskoye Smoke rose above the raging flames and a series of explosions were heard. The Russian Defense Ministry said the fire damaged power plants, power lines, tracks and apartments.
"We went out to have a look and saw smoke rising from the barn where the military warehouses were located," said resident Maxim Moldovsky. "We stayed there until about 7-8 am. Everything was exploding — flashes, debris, debris falling on us. Then paramedics came and said, They said they would evacuate everyone.”
Crimea's regional leader Sergei Aksyonov said two people were injured and more than 3,000 people were evacuated from two villages.
"The explosion is quite powerful. Ammunition is strewn all over the ground," he said, adding that several houses were burned to the ground.
Crimea is a popular summer destination for Russian tourists, and last week's explosion at Crimea's Saki air base left people sunbathing on the beach in a plume of flames and smoke.
Ukrainian officials warned on Tuesday that Crimea would not escape the ravages of war.
Rather than a travel destination, Mikhail Podlyak, an adviser to the President of Ukraine, said, "Russian-occupied Crimea is a place of high risk of warehouse explosions and the death of invaders and thieves." It is," he said on Twitter.
Russia accused last week's explosion of an accidental ammunition detonation, but satellite images and other evidence show , dispersed blast sites indicate a Ukrainian attack, possibly by anti-ship missiles, military analysts said.
The British Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update that ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet were in a "very defensive posture" in waters off Crimea, with the ships barely visible from the coastline. . The Russian flagship Moskva sank in her Aprilin the Black Sea, and last month Ukrainian forces recaptured the strategically important Snake Island.
The "limited effectiveness of the Russian fleet undermines Russia's overall strategy of aggression," Britain said. "This means that Ukraine can divert resources to pressure Russian ground forces elsewhere."
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that Ukraine In addition to supplying weapons, Western allies have provided detailed information and leadership, accusing Ukraine of helping Ukraine operate weapons that can strike deep into occupied territories.
"Not only did Western intelligence agencies provide target coordinates to launch attacks, but Western experts also oversaw the input of those data into the weapons system," said Shoigu. Stated.
Meanwhile, in Donbass, the eastern industrial zone that has been the focus of fighting in recent months, Russian shelling killed one civilian and another, according to the Ukrainian regional governor. Two of him were injured. , Pablo Kirilenko.
In Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, Russian artillery fire has killed one civilian and wounded nine, said regional governor Oleh Syniehubov. He said the overnight attack was "one of the most massive artillery bombardments in Kharkov in recent times".
Out of this area he had one piece of good news. A Ukrainian grain-laden ship chartered by the United Nations has set off to deliver the war's first aid to the starving Horn of Africa. The shipment was made possible by an internationally brokered deal to free grain trapped in Ukrainian ports by fighting.
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