Understand everything about the explosions at a military base in Crimea

• Explosions left one dead and injured on Tuesday at an ammunition depot on the site of a military airfield on Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

• Since then, the Ukrainian Defense Minister has refused to comment on the possible involvement of his army, seeming to make fun of the events.

  As for the Russian army, it continues to affirm that no shooting or bombardment are at the origin of these explosions.

• Attack or accident?

  No one has yet decided, even if the experts lean towards a Ukrainian attack.

  And if Moscow denies it, then the Kremlin must be deeply concerned about kyiv's ability to reach its air assets.

  20 Minutes

  takes stock.

The explosions at a military airfield on the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, were presented by Moscow as due to an accident, but experts and satellite images appear to reveal the result of a Ukrainian attack.

takes stock of this new major episode in the war between Russia and Ukraine, while for the past week each side has been delivering its small version of the facts.

What happened Tuesday in Crimea?

Explosions on Tuesday left one dead and injured at an ammunition depot on the site of a military airfield on Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

Videos posted on social media showed a ball of fire forming after a loud explosion, while thick billows of black smoke rose into the sky.

Asked about the subject, the British Minister of Defense said he had no comments on the incident in question but recalled Ukraine's right to defend its territory.

“If it was an attack by Ukraine, it would be legitimate, it would be in accordance with international law,” said Ben Wallace.

What are Moscow and kyiv saying?

Since Tuesday, Russia assures that no strike or bombardment has targeted a military base located near the village of Novofedorovka, and that the explosions, which left at least one dead and seven injured, are due to the explosion of ammunition intended for aviation.

However, the explosions in Crimea have caused a wave of panic among tourists, the peninsula being a major summer destination for Russians, appreciated for its beaches and mountains.

Videos circulating on social media on Tuesday showed the Kerch Strait Bridge, built at great expense by Moscow to connect Crimea with mainland Russia, being taken over by cars wanting to leave.

For your dream vacation, “Have you chosen Crimea?

Big mistake ”… On Twitter, kyiv knocks out vacationers in Crimea https://t.co/aq4EPGPtj1

— Marion Pignot (@pignot1) August 11, 2022

Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "

", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I ACCEPT

And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.

More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.

In other images, hundreds of tourists can be seen fleeing on a beach, while large clouds of smoke appear on the horizon.

The head of the pro-Russian administration of Crimea, Sergei Aksionov, tried to reassure visitors in a video message by assuring that "all necessary measures have been strengthened to ensure the safety of civilian infrastructure and the population".

What are the experts saying?

However, satellite images released on Thursday by Maxar Technologies seem to contradict this version.

These show that the airfield "was hit by something" and that at least nine planes were destroyed, Oliver Alexander told AFP on Thursday.

“If it was an accident, it would have taken four or five people throwing their cigarettes in the same place or hitting the bombs with a hammer, it is very unlikely,” added the Danish analyst.

The exact cause of the explosions – a sabotage operation or a Ukrainian missile strike – however remains unknown, the expert further specified.

Eliot Higgins, founder of investigative journalism group Bellingcat, points out that the images show three craters and "a massive fire across the base".

“These craters can be interpreted as the result of precise strikes with a long-range weapon,” he wrote on Twitter.

And to continue: "To my knowledge, Russia has never lost so much aerial equipment in a single day and they must be deeply concerned about Ukraine's ability to make similar strikes elsewhere, in particular on the bridge. of the Kerch Strait”, built at great expense by Moscow to connect Crimea to mainland Russia.

What does Ukraine say?

Unnamed Ukrainian officials quoted by The

and The

acknowledged that Ukraine was behind the explosions.

Officially, kyiv did not claim responsibility for the attack, preferring to be ironic.

Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov joked that the explosions could be caused by poorly extinguished cigarettes: “I think the Russian military at this airfield forgot a very simple rule: don't smoke in dangerous places.

That's all, ”he said on Wednesday.

Presidential adviser Mykhaïlo Podoliak joked about the “epidemic of technical accidents at Russian military airfields”.

He claimed the blasts should be "considered by the Russian military as a warning".

The day before, he had assured that they were "only the beginning".

President Volodymyr Zelensky for his part simply said in his evening speech after the explosions: “Crimea is Ukrainian” and kyiv “will never abandon it”.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine would like to remind everyone that the presence of occupying troops on the territory of Ukrainian Crimea is not compatible with the high tourist season.

pic.twitter.com/PFl6jBzKh4

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 9, 2022

Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "

", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I ACCEPT

And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.

More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.

Finally, for its part, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense simply recalled on Twitter "that the presence of occupying forces on the territory of Ukrainian Crimea is not compatible with the high tourist season".

Why is Crimea a strategic target?

Russia unilaterally annexed Crimea in March 2014 after its special forces intervened on the Ukrainian peninsula, which quickly took control of administrative buildings and surrounded Ukrainian bases.

The new pro-Russian authorities installed by Moscow then organized a referendum on joining Russia denounced as illegal by kyiv and the West, provoking a first wave of sanctions.

Since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Crimea has been at the forefront of Russia's military offensive against its Ukrainian neighbor.

It serves as a logistics rear base for the Russian forces.

Planes from Moscow take off there almost daily to strike targets in regions under the control of kyiv and several areas of this peninsula are located within the range of Ukrainian guns and drones.

The offensive on southern Ukraine that allowed Moscow to capture large swaths of territory in the first weeks of the war started from there.

If it was rarely targeted, a previous drone attack had hit the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol on July 31, according to Moscow.

By the Web

War in Ukraine: kyiv mocks Russian tourists in Crimea

World

War in Ukraine: The Russians are preparing to connect the Zaporozhye power plant to Crimea

• World

• War in Ukraine

• Crimea

• Russia

• Vladimir Poutine

• Volodymyr Zelensky