Ukraine denies responsibility for Crimea bombings but attributes alleged attack to groups loyal to Kyiv

Advisor to the President of Ukraine Vladimir ZelenskyMikhail Podolyak refused responsibility for the explosions recorded at the air base in the Crimea.

“Of course we are not here. Probably, these are compensatory mechanisms within the framework of inefficient management of the armed forces Russian FederationPodolyak told reporters about this.

Podolyak said that the causes of the explosions could be different, from the accidental detonation of ammunition, according to the Ministry Russian defenseas a result of inefficient management.

Explosions at the airbase Crimea Recorded on Tuesday may be one of the terrorist attacks attributed to citizens of the territories occupied by the Russians since 2014, which support the Kyiv authorities.

“Shadow Fighters”

However, when asked about this, he did not rule out that there was an action of partisans who want to be released. Crimea.

“Of course, people who survived the occupation understand that the times of occupation are coming to an end and they need to show their position. Crimea This is what needs to happen,” he said.

Newspaper The newspaper “New York Times He points out that in order to hit targets far behind Russian enemy lines, the Ukrainian army could rely on residents of the occupied territories loyal to Ukraine.

New York newspaper calls these activists faithful Kyiv “shadow fighters” or also partisans.

They are blamed for a series of recent mysterious attacks: the illness of the Kremlin-appointed mayor of the occupied city of Kherson, who had to be evacuated to Moscow over the weekend; the fatal shooting of the deputy director of another major city in the region in less than 24 hours; and a series of explosions at a Russian airbase on the peninsula Crimea occupied by the Kremlin on Tuesday.

Ukrainian-made explosives

Regarding this latest incident in which a person died, Ministry of Defense of Russia yesterday he reported a series of explosions and attributed them to an accident.

“On the territory of the Saki airfield, near the city of Novofedorovka, at a guarded storage site, various ammunition detonated,” he said. Protection this is a statement.

However, recalls the publication, a high-ranking Ukrainian military man with knowledge of the situation said that the forces Kyiv They were behind the explosion.

“It was an air base from which planes regularly flew out to strike at our troops in the southern theater of operations,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official did not name the type of weapon used in the attack, saying only that “the device is exclusively Ukrainian production”, – quotes the Times.

For the newspaper, the Ukrainian attack against Russian troops on the peninsula Crimea This would mean a significant expansion of Ukraine’s offensive efforts, which so far have been largely limited to pushing Russian troops out of the occupied territories since the February 24 invasion began.

It would also be a source of embarrassment for the Russian President, Vladimir Putin who often speaks of Crimea, illegally annexed to Ukraine in 2014, as sacred territory.

Video checked and verified The newspaper “New York Times they show that a plume of smoke was rising from the airbase shortly before at least three explosions, two in quick succession and a third moments later.

It is not clear from the video what caused the explosions. In addition, a video posted on social media shows at least one Su-24M combat aircraft destroyed on the base’s runway.

high Ukrainian official stated that guerrilla resistance forces loyal to the government participated in the attack Kyiv, but did not say whether those forces carried out the attack or helped regular Ukrainian military units attack the base, as has sometimes happened in other Russian-occupied territories. you need a rotor.

Crimea has been occupied by the Russians since 2014 and annexed to its territory a peninsula that has not received international recognition.

the president Zelensky He said the war started at Crimeanot in February of this year with the invasion Ukraineand it must end with the restoration of the peninsula.

EFE