Explosions heard near Russian air base in Novofedorivka, state of emergency declared in Crimea. Update

People's deputy Oleksii Honcharenko reported this on Telegram.

"Explosions are heard in the Novofedorivka area (not far from Saky)! I want to add that there is a military airfield nearby, from where planes that attack Southern Ukraine with missiles usually take off... Is August 9 the day the battle for Crimea begins?" - Honcharenko wrote. 

Pro-Russian military commander Yuriy Kotenok reported more than ten explosions at the airfield on Telegram. 

"The footage shows the clouds that appear after the explosions. This is the first powerful attack on the island since the beginning of the war. Before that, explosions were heard in Crimea several times, but the local authorities explained them as "overcoming the sound barrier by an airplane", it is noted. 

Also, the so-called adviser to the head of Crimea told Russian propagandists from RIA Novosti that he could confirm the fact of several explosions in the Novofedorivka area.

"Local residents tell about 6-7 explosions in the Saky district from the side of the military airfield. According to them, sirens are now sounding in the city. At the same time, the reason for the explosions is not understood - from Odesa to Novofedorivka, it is more than 250 km in a straight line", Baza wrote. 

Locals also report a large number of ambulances heading to Novofedorivka from Yevpatoria.

Eyewitnesses heard a series of explosions, which is similar to the detonation of ammunition.

It is also reported that the distance from the front line in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions to Novofedorivka in the Crimea is about 200 km.

"The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that aviation munitions were detonated at the airfield in Novofedorivka. No one was injured as a result of the explosion. Aviation equipment at the airfield was not damaged", Dozhd wrote.

"Around 3:20 p.m. on the territory of the airfield Saky in the area of ​​the settlement of Novofedorivka, a detonation of several aviation munitions took place at a collapsed storage area... Measures are being taken to extinguish the fire and find out the cause of the explosion", the Russian Ministry of Defense reported. 

"On the spot, they believe that it was not a hit, but a sabotage. Or even a blunder", Kremlin propagandist Margarita Simonyan wrote on Telegram. 

Telegram channels began to spread messages about the state of emergency, but the occupation authorities of Crimea denied this.

"Citizens are notified of evacuation in the Saky district of Crimea, where the incident occurred at the airfield", TASS wrote on Telegram.

Currently, about 30 people are known to have been evacuated.

The so-called head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov said that one person died as a result of explosions in Novofedorivka.

"Today is the International Day of Indigenous Peoples. In Ukraine, Crimean Tatars, Karaites, and Krymchaks are considered such. And today's explosions in Novofedorivka are another reminder of whose Crimea is after all. Because it is Ukraine!" - the Minister of Reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, Iryna Vereshchuk, wrote on Telegram. 

Videos from the Crimean bridge appeared on the network. People are trying to evacuate from the peninsula.

"There are traffic jams on the Crimean bridge. Those vacationing on the Eastern coast of Crimea - Kerch, Feodosia, Planerske - rushed to flee", Anton Herashchenko, adviser to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, wrote on Telegram.

Journalists of the channel Schemes published today's picture of the Planet Labs service, which shows warehouses and numerous military aircraft located at the Crimean airfield.

"This Crimean airfield, the explosions of which are being reported on social networks, is one of the key airfields for Russian aviation on the peninsula... Currently, the 43rd Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Russian Air Force is based there, which mainly consists of Su-30SM, Su-33, and Su-24M bombers. From here, the Russian army launches airstrikes and bombardments of Ukrainian cities", it is noted. 

The news is being updated.