KYIV, August 10(ABC): Moscow insisted Tuesday that major blasts at a key military airbase on the Russian-annexed Crimea peninsula were caused by exploding ammunition rather than Ukrainian fire.
Dramatic amateur footage shared on social media appeared to show panicked holidaymakers fleeing a Crimean beach with young children, as ballooning clouds of grey smoke rose over the horizon.
The blasts rocked the Saki airfield on the 167th day of Moscow s invasion.
Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and has used the region as a staging ground for its attacks on Ukraine, but it has rarely been a target for Ukrainian forces.
The Russian defence ministry said “several aviation munitions detonated” at the base in an incident the head of the region said had left one person dead.
Local health officials earlier said five people, including one child, had been injured.
The defence ministry said it was looking to establish the reason for the explosions but indicated the airfield was not targeted in an attack.
There was no immediate reaction from Kyiv.
Ukraine s army, which for months pleaded for long-range artillery from Western allies, has been hitting targets deeper in Russian-held territory since some started arriving in recent weeks.
Kyiv has also taken credit for several acts of sabotage inside Russian-held territory.
Moscow seized Crimea from Ukraine in the wake of massive nationwide street demonstrations that led to the ouster of a Kremlin-friendly president.
Those protests precipitated fighting between the army and Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, which would lay the groundwork for Moscow s full-scale assault on February 24 this year.
The invasion has left thousands dead, forced millions in Ukraine from their homes, and littered the country with land mines.