Startling new satellite images have showcased the extent of the damage at a Russian air force base in Crimea after devastating explosions ravaged the site on Tuesday afternoon.
The broken and charred remains of several Russian fighter jets can be seen in the aftermath of the blasts which are believed to have damaged up to 20 aircraft and demolished ammunition storage facilities.
Russia denied any aircraft were damaged in Tuesday's blasts - or that any attack took place. More explosions were then reported last night at Zyabrovka airbase in the Homiel region of southern Belarus just 20 miles from the northern Ukrainian border, which has also been used by the Russian air force.
Again, officials tried to downplay the blasts - saying they were an accident caused by an aircraft engine fire.
But photos of the Saki base in Crimea published by US-based satellite imaging company Planet Labs PBC clearly showed at least seven fighter planes had been obliterated in what is widely thought to have been a Ukrainian strike.
Ukrainian officials stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility for the explosions, but confirmed at least nine planes had been destroyed and mocked Russia's explanation that a careless smoker might have caused ammunition at the Saki air base to catch fire and blow up.
If Ukrainian forces were, in fact, responsible for the blasts, it would be the first known major attack on a Russian military site on the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Russian warplanes have launched untold numbers of strikes on Ukraine's southeastern regions from the Saki airbase.
Meanwhile in Belarus, at least eight blasts were reported at the Zyabrovka airbase used regularly by Russian military aircraft.
Satellite images of the base shared by Maxar technologies in February just days before Russian tanks crossed the Ukrainian border on Feb. 24 showed huge quantities of military equipment stationed at the base as well as a series of Mi-28 attack helicopters.
Planet Labs' photographs taken on Wednesday afternoon roughly 24 hours after the explosions at the Saki base in Crimea showed roughly one square mile of grassland burned to a crisp.
Several craters marked the ground near the tarmac - typically the sign of a powerful explosion - and the smouldering wreckage of several jets are clearly visible.
The two runways meanwhile bore no apparent damage and appeared to still be operational, while some of the fighter jets on the flight line had been moved farther down the runway and had seemingly escaped the explosions.
The base has been home to the Russian 43rd Independent Naval Assault Air Squadron since Moscow seized Crimea.
The squadron flies Sukhoi Su-24s and Sukhoi Su-30s and has been instrumental in delivering air support and strikes across southeastern Ukraine.
Crimea holds huge strategic and symbolic significance for both sides.
The Kremlin demands that Ukraine recognises Crimea as part of Russia as a key condition of any potential ceasefire agreement.
Ukraine has vowed to drive the Russians from the peninsula, with president Volodymyr Zelensky declaring earlier this week: 'Crimea is Ukrainian, and we will never give it up... The Russian war against Ukraine and the whole of free Europe must end with Crimea and its liberation.'
The explosions, which killed one person and wounded 14, sent tourists fleeing in panic from a nearby beach as plumes of smoke snaked along the coastline.
Russian authorities sought to downplay the explosions, saying Wednesday that all hotels and beaches were unaffected on the peninsula, which is a popular tourist destination for many Russians.
But video posted on social media showed long lines of slowly moving cars on the road to Russia as tourists headed for home.
A Ukrainian presidential adviser, Oleksiy Arestovych, cryptically said that the blasts were either caused by Ukrainian-made long-range weapons or the work of Ukrainian guerrillas operating in Crimea.
A Ukrainian parliament member, Oleksandr Zavitnevich, said the airfield was rendered unusable. He reported on Facebook that it housed fighter jets, tactical reconnaissance aircraft and military transport planes.
'Official Kyiv has kept mum about it, but unofficially the military acknowledges that it was a Ukrainian strike,' Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said.
The base is at least 130 miles from the closest Ukrainian position. Zhdanov suggested that Ukrainian forces could have struck it with Ukrainian or Western-supplied anti-ship missiles that have the necessary range.
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said it couldn't independently determine what caused the explosions but noted that simultaneous blasts in two places at the base probably rule out an accidental fire but not sabotage or a missile attack.
It added: 'The Kremlin has little incentive to accuse Ukraine of conducting strikes that caused the damage since such strikes would demonstrate the ineffectiveness of Russian air defense systems.'
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