Several large explosions occurred at the Saky airbase in the town of
Novofedorivka
Novofedorivka ( uk, Новофедорівка) or Novofyodorovka (russian: Новофёдоровка; crh, Novofödorovka) is an urban-type settlement.
It is located about south of the regional centre of Saky, and about north of Sevastopo ...
,
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
, on 9 August 2022, during the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
. The military base had been seized by Russian forces during the 2014 annexation of Crimea, part of the
Russo-Ukrainian War
The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since February 2014. Following Ukraine's Rev ...
. The explosions destroyed a number of Russian warplanes and caused substantial other damage. Ukrainian authorities tacitly took responsibility at first, until four weeks after the event, when
Valerii Zaluzhnyi
Valerii Fedorovych Zaluzhnyi ( uk, Вале́рій Фе́дорович Залу́жний; born 8 July 1973) is a Ukrainian four-star general who has served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 27 July 2021. He is ...
, Ukraine's military commander, explicitly said that it had been a Ukrainian missile strike.
Events
A series of explosions occurred at Saky airbase on 9 August 2022. Initial reports were of four explosions. Later reports were of six or seven explosions, then up to 15, with reports that it sounded like ammunition detonating.
Russian authorities declared a state of emergency and yellow-alert level of terrorist threat, but claimed the explosions were the result of an accident, and said one person was killed, over a dozen injured, and 252 residents moved to temporary shelter due to damage to apartment blocks. On 10 August, the occupying authorities in Crimea announced that the number of people injured had increased to 13, and one person had died. On 12 August 2022, Anton Herashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine's
Minister of Internal Affairs
Minister may refer to:
* Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric
** Minister (Catholic Church)
* Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department)
** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...
Denys Monastyrsky
Denys Anatoliiovych Monastyrsky ( uk, Денис Анатолійович Монастирський; born 12 June 1980) is a Ukrainian lawyer and politician who has been Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs since 16 July 2021.General Staff of the Armed Forces said on 10 August that they had destroyed nine Russian planes in the preceding 24 hours. The Ukrainian Air Force said that 9 Russian aircraft were destroyed at the airbase.
Satellite images of the airbase before and after the explosions were released by Planet Labs on 10 August. The images showed significant damage to the base, with at least four large craters of similar size.
Outcomes
The satellite images revealed at least eight aircraft, including
Su-24
The Sukhoi Su-24 (NATO reporting name: Fencer) is a supersonic, all-weather attack aircraft developed in the Soviet Union. The aircraft has a variable-sweep wing, twin-engines and a side-by-side seating arrangement for its crew of two. It was ...
and
Su-30
The Sukhoi Su-30 (russian: Сухой Су-30; NATO reporting name: Flanker-C/G/H) is a twin-engine, two-seat supermaneuverable fighter aircraft developed in the Soviet Union by Russia's Sukhoi Aviation Corporation. It is a multirole fighter ...
, destroyed on the apron. According to
Oryx
''Oryx'' is a genus consisting of four large antelope species called oryxes. Their pelage is pale with contrasting dark markings in the face and on the legs, and their long horns are almost straight. The exception is the scimitar oryx, which ...
group researchers, the images showed the losses as:
* 5 Su-24
* 3 Su-30SM
* 2 Su-24 damaged
* 1 Su-30SM damaged
According to the non-governmental Ukrainian Military Center:
* 4 Su-24
* 3 Su-30SM
* 1 Su-30SM damaged
* 3 Su-24s damaged
Of civil infrastructure, 62 high-rise buildings, 20 commercial facilities, and private houses were damaged. Many tourists left Crimea for Russia, and a Russian state media tourism website boasted of a record number of cars crossing the
Crimean Bridge
The Crimean Bridge ( rus, Крымский мост, r=Krymskiy most, p=ˈkrɨmskʲij most), also called Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge, is a pair of parallel bridges, one for a four-lane road and one for a double-track railway, spanning t ...
on 15 August.
Cause
Shortly after the explosions, a senior Ukrainian military official said anonymously that Ukraine was responsible. The official would not say what type of weapon was used, but that it was "a device exclusively of Ukrainian manufacture".
Within a day of the explosions, a senior Ukrainian military official said anonymously that special forces and partisans were responsible. Former military operatives and analysts said that it was unlikely that individuals on the ground carried out the attack. According to former squadron leader of
SEAL Team Six
The Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), abbreviated as DEVGRU ("Development Group") and commonly known as SEAL Team Six, is the United States Navy component of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). The unit is often referre ...
Chuck Pfarrer
Charles Patrick Pfarrer III (born April 13, 1957) is an American writer, film producer, and former United States Navy SEAL. As an author, he has penned published screenplays, novels, comic book, and non-fiction works. Regardless of medium, his wo ...
, "The craters visible in satellite photos are 10 meters across, ... And each is consistent with the explosion of at least 500 pounds of C4. No Special Forces team is going to drag a ton of C4 to a target when two ounces would be sufficient to destroy an aircraft".
Commentators speculated about various possible causes, with some assuming Ukraine had fired the American-made MGM-140 ATACMS missile, despite the claim that the weapon used was Ukrainian made, and despite U.S. denials that they had supplied ATACMS to Ukraine. There was speculation that Ukraine fired the
Hrim-2
Hrіm-2, Grim, Grom or OTRK Sapsan ( ua, ОТРК "Сапсан", lit=peregrine falcon), also known as Operational-Tactical Missile System Hrim ( ua, Оперативно-тактичний ракетний комплекс «Грім», lit=t ...
ballistic missile, which they had been developing for years, but many doubted it was ready for use or had a suitable GPS guidance system. Another possibility was the Ukrainian-made
R-360 Neptune
R-360 Neptune ( uk, Р-360 «Нептун», translit=R-360 "Neptun") is a Ukrainian anti-ship cruise missile developed by the Luch Design Bureau.
Neptune's design is based on the Soviet Kh-35 anti-ship missile, with substantially improved ran ...
anti-shipcruise missile, but there were doubts about its accuracy in land-based targeting, plus the fact that a relatively slow moving cruise missile would probably have been observed, which did not happen. Some commentators suggested small
loitering munition
A loitering munition (also known as a suicide droneLoitering Muniti ...
s, relying on their small warheads setting off large secondary explosions by hitting stored fuel or munitions.
On 7 September 2022, Ukrainian commander-in-chief
Valerii Zaluzhnyi
Valerii Fedorovych Zaluzhnyi ( uk, Вале́рій Фе́дорович Залу́жний; born 8 July 1973) is a Ukrainian four-star general who has served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 27 July 2021. He is ...
said that it had been a missile strike by Ukraine.