Nine more people have been hospitalized for minor injuries, according to the region s health ministry.
One person has been killed in a series of explosions that rocked a Russian military airfield in Crimea on Tuesday afternoon, the region s governor has revealed. Nine more people have suffered minor injuries as a result of the incident, according to the local health ministry.
Officials in Moscow earlier put the blasts down to an accidental detonation of ammunition and denied they had been caused by an enemy attack.
Sergey Aksyonov, head of Crimea, posted a video on his Telegram channel, saying that unfortunately, we have one fatality, because we have one official information coming in. If more details are established, the official pledged to issue updates on social media.
Crimea's health ministry initially confirmed that five people injured in the incident, including a child, have been hospitalized, with their condition described as non-life threatening. The number was revised up to nine in a later update.
In his latest video, Aksyonov urged everyone to only seek and accept official comments, such as those issued by Russia's defense ministry, regarding the cause of the blasts.
The number of ambulances at the scene is sufficient, with the situation described as under control, according to the official. The Crimean governor said that householders in the immediate vicinity of the airfield will be relocated. Aksyonov also promised that no local resident who has been affected by the blasts will be left without help. The first reports of several blasts in Novofyodorovka village, accompanied by eyewitness footage, appeared on several Russian Telegram channels at around 3 pm local time. The incident was confirmed later by Crimean authorities and eventually by the defense ministry in Moscow.
On Tuesday, Ukraine's defense ministry said it had not been able to determine the cause of the fire that led to the incident, despite the explosions in Crimea. According to officials in Kiev, a violation of fire safety regulations was the most likely reason behind the fire.
Moscow could use the blasts in its information war and that Russian occupiers will find clues pointing to Ukraine's involvement, according to the ministry.