Russia not accusing Ukraine of strike on Crimea airfield so as not to admit shortcomings of air defenses – ISW

“The apparent simultaneity of explosions at two distinct facilities likely rules out the official Russian version of accidental fire, but it does not rule out either sabotage or a long-range missile strike,” the report says.

ISW analysts say Ukraine may have modified its Neptune missiles for ground use (as the Russians have done with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles), but there is no evidence to support this hypothesis at this time.

Several explosions took place at the Novofedorivka military air base in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimea on the afternoon of Aug. 9.

The Russian occupation authorities’ Ministry of Health in Ukraine’s Crimea said that the number of victims "as a result of the incident" in Novofedorivka had increased to nine.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense also commented on the explosions at the airfield in Russian-occupied Crimea, saying the it could not establish the cause of the fire at the airport. 

Sarcastically, the ministry’s message mentioned the importance of observing fire safety rules and bans on smoking in certain places.

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