Russian beachgoers were astounded when the Novofedorivka airbase came under attack. The base is over 200km from any Ukrainian-controlled territory and was thought to be beyond their striking capability. Some have speculated that the United States is now supplying Ukraine with the ATACMS missile system which could be responsible for the strike as it has a range of about 300km.
Russia's Defence Ministry denied the base on the Black Sea had been attacked, instead calling it an accidental munitions detonation. RT editor, Margarita Simonyan, tweeted that the explosions were caused by 'sabotage' and that the idea that Ukraine could have done this was bullshit. And other stupidity.
Ukraine was rather tight-lipped, although Viktor Andrusiv, a political scientist and former advisor to Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs, wrote on Telegram: "As you can understand - missiles with a range of 200-300km are already in service with us and are being used in our country."
If that's true then that is bad news for Russia and Russian tourists whose holidays will definitely be spoiled this year.
Source: Daily Mail
Hordes of Russians have seemingly begun fleeing the annexed Crimean peninsula after more than a dozen explosions rocked a crucial Russian airbase yesterday.
The blasts rang out around 3:30pm local time yesterday afternoon at the Russian-held Novofedorivka military airbase in Western Crimea, leaving one dead and five injured.
The base, which sits at least 130 miles from the nearest Ukrainian-controlled territory, is located within sight of a popular beach and videos circulating yesterday on the Telegram messaging app showed dozens of shocked beachgoers watching trails of smoke snaking from the base before hastily evacuating the shore.
The cause of the explosions has not yet been confirmed, but more clips which emerged today showed the charred remains of a Russian fighter jet and the smouldering wreckage of several cars on torn up tarmac destroyed in the devastating blasts.
It comes as the regional administrators of Ukraine's southern Kherson region, currently under Russian occupation, said Russian families there had 'started to panic' after Ukrainian armed forces attacked two key bridges used by Putin's troops as supply routes.
'Because of these events, the mass exodus of the families of the Russian military who lived in Kherson began,' the statement read.
Videos showed it was pretty clearly an attack, with nearly simultaneous explosions.
Vacationing Russians had seen enough and fled back to Russia, causing a massive traffic jam nearly 100km long.
"Tight-lipped" but they still manage to troll the hell out of the Russians.
UPDATE: The entire airbase has been wiped out, with the loss of 9 fighter jets and 25 aircraft in all, as seen on satellite imagery, leading some on Twitter to ask, "What Russian air defenses?"
