Loud explosions heard near Russian military airbase in Crimea - witnesses

Three local witnesses told Reuters they had heard loud explosions and seen black smoke rising from the direction of a Russian military airbase at Novofedorivka in western Crimea on Tuesday. Videos purportedly captured at the scene, some of them posted on social media, showed a plume of smoke in the area.

Three local witnesses told Reuters they had heard loud explosions and seen black smoke rising from the direction of a Russian military airbase at Novofedorivka in western Crimea on Tuesday.

Videos purportedly captured at the scene, some of them posted on social media, showed a plume of smoke in the area. The videos could not immediately be verified. At least 12 explosions of varying intensity were heard in the course of a minute, two witnesses said. Three were particularly loud, triggering sparks and smoke.

Russia for decades leased the naval port of Sevastopol, home of its Black Sea Fleet, from Kyiv, but annexed the entire peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. The peninsula, which remains under Russian control, has been spared the intense bombardment and artillery combat that have taken place in other areas of eastern and southern Ukraine since Feb. 24, when President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian armed forces into Ukraine.