Crimea Rocked by Explosions Again After Black Sea Fleet HQ Strike

The Crimean city of Sevastopol has again been hit by explosions in the wake of a Ukrainian strike against a Russian military headquarters in the Moscow-occupied peninsula.

Images shared on social media on Saturday morning show smoke rising from the horizon amid reports there had been a strike on the city's Inkerman district, where an oil depot of Russia's Black Sea Fleet is located.

Social-media users reported air sirens and that the Russian military had deployed a smoke screen over the city, with debris falling from the sky. Marine passenger transport from Sevastopol was also temporarily suspended, according to state news agency Tass.

The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, wrote on Telegram that according to preliminary information, Russian air defenses had "responded" and that missile debris had fallen near a pier in the city, without providing further information.

However, in a follow-up post headlined "missile danger," he warned residents to turn off the gas, electricity and shelter in their apartment blocks. If they were driving, they were advised to stop the vehicle and head to the basement floors of nearby buildings.

In another message, Razvozhaev said that the danger was clear, only to post another message a few minutes later saying that there was another danger of a missile attack.

However, it seems that local authorities were unprepared for the air warnings. One local Telegram Channel reportied that residents were unable to get into bomb shelters because they had been locked and the keys were unavailable.

There were also reports on Telegram of two powerful explosions heard near Dzhankoy, which is home to one of Russia's biggest airfields in Crimea.

Newsweek has emailed the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment.

The reported blasts follow a Ukrainian missile strike on the fleet's headquarters, an important target for Kyiv. Ukraine has vowed to recapture the peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

Ukraine's military said it was behind the strike on the naval command base, which is the symbolic heart of Russia's Navy. This delivered a major blow for Moscow following many strikes on the strategically important port in recent months.

Satellite images showed smoke rising from the Black Sea Fleet headquarters following the strike. Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told news outlet Voice of America that at least nine people were killed, and 16 injured, with generals among the casualties. Newsweek has been unable to verify these figures as yet.

Update 09/23/23, 4 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further information.