By

•  Marcus Parekh 
• Josh White

10 AUGUST 2022 • 10:26AM

Explosions rocked a Russian airbase in Crimea on Tuesday CREDIT: AP

Ukraine will not stop fighting until it has “liberated” Crimea, president Volodymyr Zelensky has said..

“This Russian war against Ukraine and against all of free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea – its liberation,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

“We will never give it up … the Black Sea region cannot be safe while Crimea is occupied,” he said, repeating his government’s position that Crimea would have to be returned to Ukraine.

His statement comes after one person was killed on Tuesday when a Russian air base near seaside resorts in the annexed peninsula was rocked by blasts that Moscow said were detonations of stored ammunition, not the result of any attack.

Mr Zelensky denied Ukraine was responsible for the blast, suggesting partisans might have been involved.

‘Vladimir Putin will be rattled by explosions in Crimea’

If the blasts are proven to be a Ukraininian attack, the Kremlin will constitute this as an assault on Russia itself, says James Kilner.

Just a few weeks ago, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, promised to unleash “Judgement Day” if Ukraine ever attacked Crimea.

Now, Ukraine appears to have done just that – and the world is holding its breath for the Kremlin’s response.

If it is proved to have been a Ukrainian attack, the Kremlin will constitute this as an attack on Russia itself. 

So far, there have only been a handful of attacks on fuel and ammunition depots close to the border. This took place in sight of Russian holidaymakers in Crimea.

Why the Crimea attack could be so significant

If it is confirmed that Ukraine is responsible for the attack on the air base in Crimea, the strike would represent a dramatic escalation in the five-month long conflict, Nataliya Vasilyeva, Joe Barnes and Dominic Nicholls write.

The peninsula, occupied by Moscow’s forces since 2014, has so far been spared from the fighting.

It fuelled speculation that Ukraine’s armed forces had carried out the bombardment with undeclared heavy weapons donated by the United States, such as deadly Atacms rockets, which have a 300km range.

Witnesses to the blasts reported hearing at least 12 explosions, describing the final eruption, some 30 minutes after the first, as the loudest.

Comment from Telegraph reader John Moone: “Mysterious attacks on Russian fleet in Sevastopol, next? The Orcs should start putting warning messages on their cigarette packaging. Warning – Smoking may damage Russian military assets”.

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Russian shelling kills 11 in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region

Russian shelling killed 11 people in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, governor Valentyn Reznychenko said on Wednesday.

Reznychenko initially put the casualties at 21, with 11 killed in the district of Nikopol and 10 in the town of Marganets, but said in a subsequent message on the Telegram messaging app that 11 was the total number, without clarifying which initial details were incorrect.

Russia ‘destroyed German-made anti-aircraft system in Mykolaiv’

Russia’s Defence Ministry has said that Russian forces have destroyed a German-supplied Gepard anti-aircraft system in use by Ukrainian forces in the Mykolaiv region.

In its daily briefing, the defence ministry also said it had shot down three Ukrainian warplanes in the Mykolaiv region, as well as seven Himars missiles in the neighbouring Kherson region.

It was not possible to independently verify the reports.

MoD: Russia established new ground forces formation

Russia has “almost certainly” established a major new ground forces formation to support its operations in Ukraine, Britain said on Tuesday.

This unit, called the 3rd Army Corps, is based out of the city of Mulino, east of Russia’s capital Moscow, the British Ministry of Defence said in its daily intelligence bulletin on Twitter.

The update also added that Russian commanders continued to face “competing operational priorities” of reinforcing its offensive in the eastern Donbas region, as well as strengthening its defence against Ukrainian counterattacks in south.