Satellite Photos Show 9 Destroyed Russian Warplanes In Crimea

Ukraine said Wednesday, August 10, 2022, that nine Russian warplanes were destroyed in a deadly string of 12 explosions at an air base in Crimea that appeared to be the result of a Ukrainian attack and would represent a significant escalation in the war, Susie Blann reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Satellite photos clearly showed at least seven fighter planes at the base had been blown up and others probably damaged.

Russia denied any aircraft were damaged in Tuesday’s blasts — or that any attack took place—and claimed a careless smoker caused the explosion in an ammunition dump at the Saki air base.

But satellite photos clearly showed at least seven fighter planes at the base had been blown up and others probably damaged. If Ukrainian forces were, in fact, responsible for the blasts, it would be the first known major attack on a Russian military site on the Crimean Peninsula, which was seized from Ukraine by the Kremlin in 2014.

Russian warplanes have used Saki to strike areas in Ukraine’s south.

Ukrainian officials stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility for the explosions, while mocking Russia’s explanation that a careless smoker might have caused ammunition at the Saki air base to catch fire and blow up.

Analysts also said that the explanation doesn’t make sense and that the Ukrainians could have used anti-ship missiles to strike the base, Ellen Knickmeyer, Michael Biesecker and Jon Gambrell also reported for AP.

Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC taken at midafternoon Wednesday showed some 2 square kilometers (0.75 square mile) of grassland burned at the Saki base. Several craters marked the ground near the tarmac.

Some of the fighter jets on the flight line had been moved farther down the runway, compared to images taken Tuesday before the blast. The base has been home to the

Russian 43rd Independent Naval Assault Air Squadron since Moscow seized Crimea.

The squadron flies Sukhoi Su-24s and Sukhoi Su-30s. The base also includes a number of earth-covered bunkers and hangars around its periphery — typically used to house munitions in case of a fire. None appeared damaged, belying Russian claims.

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