War in Ukraine | Disagreement between the Kremlin and Crimean officials

Peninsula blast damage greater than Moscow had suggested

(Odessa) After explosions ripped through a Russian airbase in Crimea on Tuesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry quickly downplayed the extent of the damage, saying an ammunition explosion caused no casualties and no equipment had been destroyed.

Videos of the scene and the assessment of local officials, who declared a state of emergency, belie this version of events: at least one person was killed, more than a dozen were injured and hundreds were displaced in shelters. According to the authorities, more than 60 apartment buildings were damaged, as well as 20 shops and other buildings. And on the grounds of the base, after the huge plumes of smoke had cleared, one could see the remains of a warplane apparently melted on the tarmac. Satellite images showed craters, burn marks and at least eight destroyed fighter jets.

The images and report by local officials on Wednesday contradict the Kremlin’s initial version of what happened in Crimea, a strategic peninsula in southern Ukraine that Russia illegally annexed in 2014, and suggest that the destruction there is indeed more important than the Russians say.

If the Ukrainian military and partisans were responsible for the explosions, as a senior Ukrainian official said, it would represent not only an embarrassment for President Vladimir Putin, who often celebrates annexation, but also a challenge to the ability of his army to defend an occupied territory which it had heavily fortified for years.

It is not yet clear whether the blasts will hamper Russia’s ability to defend against an ongoing counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces in the south. But the extensive damage to areas near the explosion, together with satellite images and video of the wreckage of the plane, suggest significant destruction of military assets that will be crucial for Russia as it attempts to s cling to territories seized in the early days of the war.

The base houses fighter jets and helicopters which Ukrainian authorities say have been used deadly in the battle for Ukraine’s Black Sea coastal region. Ukraine’s military intelligence service named several dozen pilots from the base whom it accused of carrying out attacks on civilian areas.

Damage to the airbase itself was difficult to assess Wednesday. A video, verified by the New York Timesshows the charred nose of a fighter plane, the fuselage a shapeless black mass.

More than an explosion

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that the episode was caused by the explosion of ammunition stored for warplanes at the base. The statement does not mention Ukraine or its army.

Satellite images, collected by Planet Labs and reviewed by the New York Times, challenged the Russian version of events. The images, one taken hours before the explosions and another the next day, do not show the messy debris of a single explosion, but rather what appear to be three large craters caused by separate detonations.

Footage shows at least eight destroyed warplanes, Su-30 and Su-24 fighter jets, all parked on the tarmac at the airbase. Two buildings near the planes were also completely destroyed, and damage and large burn marks are visible elsewhere on the military base.

Other parts of the air base appeared intact, including helicopters and a large ammunition dump.

Local officials, struggling to explain and deal with the destruction, gave more details about what happened to the base, located on Crimea’s west coast. The Kremlin-appointed leader of the peninsula, Sergei Axionov, said on Wednesday that 252 people had been moved to shelters due to damage to homes. He said on Telegram that at least 62 apartment buildings and 20 commercial structures were damaged by the blast, and authorities were still documenting the damage to private homes.

“Ukrainian-made device”

Ukraine has not officially claimed responsibility for the explosions, which surprised bathers at a nearby Black Sea resort. But a senior Ukrainian military official said on Wednesday that Ukrainian special forces, along with local resistance fighters loyal to the Kyiv government, were behind the blast.

Speaking on condition of anonymity so he could discuss sensitive military matters, the senior official would not reveal the type of weapon used in the attack, saying only that an “exclusively Ukrainian manufacture was used”.

It is unclear what device Ukraine allegedly used to cause the explosions. Ukraine has few weapons that can reach the peninsula, apart from planes that could be shot down immediately by Russia’s heavy air defenses. The air base, located near the town of Novofedorivka, is about 320 km from the nearest Ukrainian military position, reducing the likelihood of a missile strike being the source.

An attack on a target in Crimea, which Russia has transformed in eight years of occupation into a formidable military hub, would also represent an expansion of Ukraine’s military reach since the invasion began in February.

Although fighting has raged for weeks in southern Ukraine, including near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, Crimea’s distance and defenses have kept it clear of attacks Ukrainians.

Videos reviewed and verified by the New York Times show that a plume of smoke rose from the airbase just before at least three explosions: two in quick succession and a third moments later. The videos do not make it possible to clearly determine the cause of the explosions.

The senior Ukrainian official would not reveal whether local resistance forces, known as Partisans, carried out the attack or helped Ukrainian military units target the base, as has sometimes happened in other territories occupied by Russia.

Russification

Russia has sought to stamp out resistance in occupied areas, using fear and indoctrination to force Ukrainians to adopt Russian IDs, currency and television. In the cities of Kherson, Russian-backed authorities have arrested hundreds of people and prepared the ground for referendums on unification with Russia – such as the one held in Crimea in 2014, considered illegitimate by Ukraine and the EU. ‘West.

Ukraine has pushed to retake territory in the south in recent weeks, but as fighting has intensified, fears over the region’s nuclear facility, the Zaporizhia power plant, have intensified.

According to Ukrainian authorities and independent analysts, Russian forces have been using the facility for weeks as a base to launch attacks, knowing that it is difficult for Ukraine to retaliate without threatening the plant’s reactors.

Nevertheless, fighting seems to be intensifying around the plant. Overnight, Russian forces fired Grad missiles at the nearby town of Nikopol from across the Dnieper River, killing at least 13 civilians and wounding 11 others, a Ukrainian military official in the region said on Telegram on Wednesday. Valentin Reznichenko.

This article was originally published in the New York Times.