Plumes of smoke rise after massive explosion jolts Crimea as 'Ukraine strikes ammo dump'

Amid the rising Russia-Ukraine war, an explosion was reported in the highly contentious Crimean peninsula on Saturday. The incident took place in the afternoon, following which the authorities urged people living within 5km of the site to evacuate. The Russian-installed governor of the region Sergei Aksyonov confirmed the incident stating that an ammunition depot was attacked by a Ukrainian drone. 

The incident occurred a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Crimean Bridge must get “neutralised” since it's Russia’s major lifeline in the war. 

The videos of the explosion started circulating online soon after the incident. Plumes of smoke can be seen coming out of the ammunition depot. Earlier today, Aksyonov stated that Ukrainians are attempting to strike the facilities in the Krasnogvardeisky district, north of Simferopol with drones. In wake of this, traffic on the Crimean Bridge was briefly halted. 

Meanwhile, Anton Gerashchenko, Advisor to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, shared the video of the region and stated that the incident might have happened due to a detonation of ammunition in the warehouse. “Russian Telegram channels report a detonation in an ammunition warehouse in temporarily occupied Crimea, allegedly due to a drone attack,” Gerashchenko wrote on Twitter. "As a result of an enemy drone on the Krasnogvardeisky district, there was a detonation at an ammunition depot,” Aksyonov wrote on Telegram. "A decision was taken to evacuate people [living] within five kilometres. To minimise risks, it was also decided to halt rail traffic on Crimean railways,” he added. Reports are emerging that the explosion led to the suspension of Railway services in the arid peninsula. 

Zelenskyy plans to ‘neutralise’ the Crimean Bridge

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said that the Crimean Bridge needs to be “neutralised” since it serves as a lifeline for Russia in the raging war. "The Crimean Bridge is not just a logistical road. This is the road that is used to feed the war with ammunition. And it militarizes the Crimean Peninsula. This is an enemy facility built outside international law, so understandably, it is a [military] objective," the Ukrainian President asserted during his virtual address. “Any target that is bringing war must be neutralized,” he added. In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula after a brief conflict with Ukraine. The Ukrainian President insisted that Kyiv’s main objective was to “reclaim all of Crimea because it is our (Ukraine's) sovereign territory”. “It's our sovereign territory, an inalienable part of our nation,” he said.