WORLD NEWS | Ukraine, Russia trade claims after explosion rocks Crimean town

KYIV, March 21 (AP) — Russian and Ukrainian officials gave conflicting accounts Tuesday of an attack late Monday on a Russian cruise missile transported by train in occupied Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

A Ukrainian military spokesman said Kiev was behind the explosion, which reportedly destroyed multiple Kalibr cruise missiles near the town of Dzhankoi in northern Crimea, but did not directly claim responsibility.

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Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Southern Combat Command, described the attack as a signal to Russia that it should leave the Black Sea peninsula it illegally seized from Ukraine in 2014.

Speaking on Ukrainian television, Humeniuk noted the importance of Zhankey as a railway hub, saying that “now, the way forward (for the Russian troops in Crimea) is clear – they already need to leave by rail. ”

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Ukraine’s military intelligence agency issued a vague statement on Monday that multiple missiles carried by rail and intended to be launched from submarines had been destroyed, but did not spell out whether Ukraine was responsible or what weapons were used. However, the agency suggested that Kiev was behind the explosion, saying it further “promoted Russia’s demilitarization process and prepared it for the lifting of the occupation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.”

Moscow-installed authorities in Crimea offered a different version of events on Tuesday, saying Ukrainian drones struck civilian installations in Dzhankoi.

Sergei Aksenov, the Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea, said the attack wounded a civilian but “did no serious damage”.

Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to Aksenov, denied the Ukrainian claims and said the Ukrainian drones were targeting residential areas rather than railways. Igor Ivin, head of the Dzhankoi local government, said the attack damaged power lines, a private home, a shop and a university building.

Unconfirmed social media reports late Monday said Russian air defenses shot down multiple drones over Crimea. None of these statements could be independently verified.

In the midst of the current war, reports have surfaced of attacks on Russian military bases and other infrastructure in Crimea, and Ukraine has rarely explicitly claimed responsibility, instead cheering the incidents.

In August, powerful explosions rocked a Russian air base in western Crimea, and Ukraine later said nine warplanes were destroyed. Satellite photos showed at least seven fighter jets were destroyed and other aircraft may have been damaged.

Ukrainian officials initially avoided taking credit, while mocking Russia’s explanation that a careless smoker could have caused the munitions at the Saki base to catch fire and explode. Unusually, Ukraine’s top military officer announced weeks later that he had ordered the attack.

Russian-appointed authorities have also previously reported repeated Ukrainian drone strikes in Crimea, most of which targeted the port of Sevastopol, home to Russia’s main naval base.

The incidents in Crimea, along with reported drone strikes on Russian territory far from the front lines of the war, exposed major weaknesses in Moscow’s defenses and embarrassed Russian President Vladimir Putin, who reportedly considered invading Ukraine will be quick and easy. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)