Smoke could be seen above the military airbase in the Crimean village of Hvardiyske (Simferopol District). According to local residents, several explosions were heard there, the local news website Kryminform has reported.
There has been no official information yet.
The airbase in Hvardiyske is located 13 km from Simferopol. After the start of the occupation, Russia has deployed the 37the mixed air force regiment and two squadrons (12 Su-24M and 12 Su-25 SM) there.
"But what happened in the settlement of Hvardiyske - there were very powerful explosions there too, they were heard in the nearby villages. The clouds of smoke there are black, but we do not know how much and what was damaged there, because they are keeping lips tight, the information does not come through. But the airfields in Hvardiyske and Belbek after the explosions in Novofedorivka are the two remaining airfields left, aircraft must have been damaged there," the head of the Crimean Tatar Majlis, Refat Chubarov, said on Ukrainian TV.
According to locals, the explosions were heard around 6.30 a.m.
Other explosions were also heard in Crimea around this time, near the village of Mayske. According to Russian sources, there was an "ammunition detonation" as a result of a "sabotage" at a military base. There was also an explosion at a railway transformer station.
The occupiers are evacuating a 5-km zone near the military base.