Three local witnesses told Reuters they had heard several loud explosions and seen black smoke rising from the direction of a Russian military airbase at Novofedorivka in western Crimea on Tuesday.
Videos shared on social media also showed a plume of smoke in the area.
No casualties were reported at the airfield, where the cause of the detonation is still being investigated, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement after confirming the reports.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military claims to have struck a major airbase deep inside the occupied Crimean peninsula, the Guardian newspaper said, adding at least 12 explosions hit the Saky naval airbase, causing a huge plume of smoke.
Russia has disputed the claims and says it was not an attack but a detonation of ammunition, according to Guardian.
Reuters has reported that the head of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said one person has died as a result of the explosion earlier on Tuesday.
Blasts rocked a Russian airbase near seaside resorts in the annexed Crimean peninsula, injuring five people according to local authorities.
Witnesses told Reuters they heard at least 12 explosions at about 3.20pm local time from the Saky airbase near Novofedorivka on Crimea’s western coast. They described a final blast around 30 minutes later as the loudest.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed the “detonation of several aviation ammunition stores” had caused an explosion, Russian news agencies reported, but that there had been no injuries.
Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
MNA
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