CRIMEA: Massive explosions rocked a military depot in the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine on Tuesday, igniting fires and forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 people.

The large-scale blasts occurred at an ammunition storage facility in Mayskoye, the second time in a week that explosions have occurred at Russian outposts in the territory it seized in 2014.

Russia, without pinpointing the perpetrators, called the latest explosions an “act of sabotage.” They followed last week’s attack at the Saki air base that destroyed nine Russian warplanes.

Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the Mayskoye incident, but Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak tweeted: “Crimea occupied by Russians is about warehouses, explosions and high risk of death for invaders and thieves. Demilitarization in action.”

Citing the Russian Defense Ministry, Sergei Aksyonov, the head of Russia’s Crimea administration, blamed the explosions on a fire, adding that the detonations were ongoing. Russian officials said the fires at the depot caused damage to a power plant, power lines, rail tracks and some apartment buildings, but that there were no serious injuries.

“The evacuation of residents is underway, people are taken out of the five-kilometer zone from the incident to ensure safety,” Aksyonov said.

Ukraine’s Podolyak contended that the nearby electricity substation that was affected by the blasts was being used to divert power from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to Russian-controlled regions.

“You must understand that they stole from the Zaporizhzhia NPP [Nuclear Power Plant] in order to send electricity to Crimea through Dzhankoi,” Podolyak said in a television interview, although his claim could not be immediately verified. “I think and believe that this is karmic retribution. Everything that is stolen does not bring wealth.”

(VOA)