Explosive Rivalry: Ukraine & Russia Trade Blame After Blast Rocks Crimean Town

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Russia and Ukraine had very different stories to tell on Tuesday about an attack that happened in Crimea. On Monday at night, multiple missiles were blown up near Dzhankoi in northern Crimea. A spokesperson for the Ukrainian military hinted that it was behind the explosion, but didn’t say it directly.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern region, said that their attack was aiming to send a strong message to Russia: it must leave the Crimea area which they took away from Ukraine in 2014.

She also said on a Ukrainian television network that Dzhankoi is an important railway station and this means the Russian forces have to leave Crimea by taking the train.

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency announced that a bunch of missiles on trains had been destroyed. It did not reveal exactly who was responsible or what kind of weapon had been used, but strongly hinted that it was Ukraine’s work in order to help free Crimea from Russia’s control.

On Tuesday, people in charge of Crimea (who were appointed by the government of Russia) said that Ukrainian drones attacked buildings in Dzhankoi. The head of Crimea (chosen by the Kremlin) said one person was hurt, but nothing serious was destroyed in the attack.

Someone close to Aksenov said Ukraine launched drones near a railway but they hit residential areas instead. According to Igor Ivin, the leader of that area, the explosions damaged some buildings like power lines and homes, as well as a store and a school.

Social media reports also state some Russian defenses shot down other drones over Crimea. However, no one can confirm if these reports are true.

The war has seen reports of Russian military bases and other structures in Crimea being attacked. Ukraine doesn’t always own up to being responsible for these attacks but they seem to be happy that it happened.

In August, there were loud explosions in a Russian air base near Crimea. After this, Ukraine said that nine of their warplanes had been destroyed. Pictures from satellites showed at least seven fighter planes had exploded and some might have been damaged. At first, the Ukrainian officials refused to accept blame but later they laughed at Russia’s explanation that someone smoking carelessly could have started a fire and caused the explosions. Surprisingly, Ukraine’s top military officer admitted few weeks later that he was responsible for the attack on Saki base.

Russian leaders reported that Ukrainian drones were attacking Crimea, mostly aiming for the port in Sevastopol which is where a large Russian navy base is located. The drones showed vulnerabilities in Russia’s defense and made Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, look foolish; he thought capturing Ukraine would be easy.

Ukraine’s authorities recently welcomed back 15 children who had been sent away from several areas in the country’s south and northeast by Russian forces. This happened during a war between Russia and Ukraine.

Recently, the International Criminal Court gave an order to arrest Putin. They said he had taken part in taking away 16,000 children from Ukraine. Most of these children were adopted by families in Russia and only 308 have been brought back home so far.

Russia launched missiles that hit an eastern Ukrainian town and hurt people. Sadly, a couple died because one of the missiles went into their house in Chasiv Yar. Another local was taken to the hospital. Photos posted by Ukraine’s presidential assistant show the damage in an apartment building caused by the attack.

Russian airplanes flew over the Black Sea and shot missiles towards the city of Odesa. Most of the missiles were blocked, but some crashed into buildings, causing damage and injuries.

The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, held a meeting with defense and security officials recently. They discussed about getting guns and ammunition for the Ukrainian army and how to stay safe from dangerous attack by Russia. It also comes after EU countries agreed to send Ukraine weapons like artillery shells which they think is important in defending against Russia’s invasion forces. The U.S. Pentagon said that they will speed up the delivery of their Abrams tanks so it will be ready faster than before.

Ukraine’s government announced that in the past 24 hours, Russian shelling killed three civilians and hurt 10 people. It said Russian shooting damaged the town Kherson plus nearby places more than 60 times, killing one individual and hurting seven other people in that same area.

In the eastern Donetsk region, there were still lots of fighting between Russia and Ukraine. Petro Kurylenko, who is the local Governor in that area, talked on Ukrainian TV about how Russian bombing had caused one death and injured another person in Bakhmut. He also said there was another death and two people were hurt in Avdiivka.

Ukrainian officials say that many people have died in the town of Bakhmut since Russia tried to take it over. Before the war, about 70,000 people were living there, but now only a few thousand remain. Much of the city has been destroyed by bombing.

The leader of Ukraine’s military forces said the defenders of Bakhmut are still doing their best to stop Russian forces from taking full control of the town.

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