Soon after a fire broke out at the Saky airfield in the occupied Crimea, the New York Times reached out to a senior military official who provided some details under the condition of anonymity.
First and foremost he confirmed it was Ukraine behind the blast near Novofederivka, where an important russian army's target was located.
Read more: Explosions at the russian Military Airfield in Crimea - Occupiers are Suiciding (Updated)
"This was an air base from which planes regularly took off for attacks against our forces in the southern theater," the official said. The official would not disclose the type of weapon used in the attack, saying only that "a device exclusively of Ukrainian manufacture was used."
A Ukrainian attack on russian forces in the Crimean Peninsula would represent a significant expansion of Ukraine’s offensive efforts, which until now have been largely limited to pushing Russian troops back from territories occupied after Feb. 24, when the invasion began.
"It would also be an embarrassment for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who often speaks of Crimea, which he illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, as if it were hallowed ground," noted the NYT reporter.
Ukraine possesses few weapons that can reach the peninsula, aside from aircraft that would risk being shot down immediately by Russia’s heavy air defenses in the region. The air base, which is near the city of Novofederivka, is nearly 200 miles from the nearest Ukrainian military position.
The senior Ukrainian official said the attack involved partisan resistance forces loyal to the government in Kyiv, but he would not disclose whether those forces carried out the attack or assisted regular Ukrainian military units in targeting the base, as has sometimes occurred in other russian-occupied territories.
To reach targets deep behind enemy lines, Ukraine has increasingly turned to guerrillas in russian-occupied territories, officials said. Partisans, for instance, have helped Ukrainian forces target russian bases and ammunition depots in the Kherson Region, Ukrainian officials say.
Publicly, Ukrainian officials would not confirm the involvement of Ukraine’s military. Ukraine’s defense ministry said in a statement that it could not "determine the cause of the explosion," and suggested that personnel at the base adhere to no-smoking regulations.
Other officials did not exactly deny that Ukraine was behind the explosion.
“The future of the Crimea is to be a pearl of the Black Sea, a national park with unique nature and a world resort, not a military base for terrorists,” Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, said in a tweet. “It is just the beginning.”
Read more: Russia Radically Changed the Location of Forces In Ukraine. How Many russia’s Battalion Tactical Groups In the Kherson Direction Now
