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Blast occurs at airfield in Crimea — local authorities

The Saki military airfield near Novofyodorovka is used by the Russian defense ministry, including for naval aircraft

SIMFEROPOL, August 9. /TASS/. A blast has rocked an airfield in Crimea’s Saki district, Viktoria Kazmirova, deputy head of the local administration, told TASS on Tuesday.

"We have blasts at the airfield. All the windows are broken," she said.

Adviser to Crimea’s head, Oleg Kryuchkov, has confirmed reports about the explosions. "So far, I can only confirm that several blasts occurred near Novofyodorovka," he wrote on his Telegram channel and asked to refrain from speculating about the accident until official reports are issued.

The Saki military airfield near Novofyodorovka is used by the Russian defense ministry, including for naval aircraft. Apart from it, the airfield has a ground-based testing and training system NITKA, one of Russia’s two such simulators to drill the skills of takeoff and landing of ship-based aircraft. Its size is equivalent to the flight deck of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier.