Military Supply Depot in Crimea Damaged in Sabotage Attack, Russian Military Says

A massive fire broke out at an ammunition storage area near the town of Dzhankoy, northern Crimea on Tuesday, causing a series of explosions, with fires spreading to nearby civilian infrastructure, including an electricity substation. Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak hinted that the explosions were no accident.

The ammunition storage depot in Dzhankoy, Crimea was subjected to a sabotage attack, Russia's Defense Ministry has announced.

"On the morning of August 16, a military warehouse near the village of Dzhankoy was damaged as a result of sabotage," the MoD said in a statement Tuesday.

The military said that the attack resulted in damage to a number of pieces of civilian infrastructure nearby, including power lines, an electrical substation, railway tracks, and several residential buildings.

"No one was seriously injured. The necessary measures are being taken to eliminate the consequences of the sabotage," the MoD indicated.

Earlier in the day, the MoD indicated that a fire broke out on the territory of the ammunition storage site at about 6:15 am local time, causing a detonation in which two people were injured. Crimean Health Minister Konstantin Skorupskiy said one of the victims had been operated on and was recovering after receiving a shrapnel wound to the leg. A second was released from hospital after getting outpatient care.

The emergency led to problems with local logistics, with Crimea head Sergei Aksyonov saying passenger trains traveling through the area would be stopped and their passengers transferred to buses to ensure safety. He added that the damaged portion of the railway tracks in the area has already been repaired, with the movement of trains to resume after it is deemed safe.

Parts of northern Crimea have been on a heightened terror threat level for months in light of the danger of terror, sabotage, and diversionary attacks by the Ukrainian military, nationalist fighters, or their sympathizers.

Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak gloated about the explosions at Dzhankoy and hinted at Kiev's involvement in the sabotage on Twitter, suggesting that the "Crimea of [a] normal country is about the Black Sea, mountains, recreation and tourism, but Crimea occupied by Russians is about warehouses explosions and high risk of death for invaders and thieves. Demilitarization in action."

The majority ethnic Russian Black and Azov Sea peninsula peacefully broke off from Ukraine and rejoined Russia in March 2014 following a referendum. The referendum was organized in the aftermath of a US and EU-sponsored coup d'etat in Kiev in February of that year, which brought radical nationalist forces to power which sought to break off ties with Russia and drag the country into the EU and NATO.