Russia Loses Powerful Weapons In Crimea

The head of the Medzhlis shares new details about the series of explosions on the peninsula.

Two explosions were heard in Crimea yesterday. There was a "clap" in the morning at the ammunition depot near Dzhankoy. In the afternoon, someone smoked at the military airbase in the village of Gvardeyskoye near Simferopol. The explosions on the peninsula rattled the uninvited guests, causing lines at railway stations and traffic jams on the Crimean bridge.

What are the consequences of smoking in unauthorized areas in Crimea, who is fleeing the peninsula and how the explosions have affected the residents - the head of the Medzhlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov told on the air of Apostrof TV.

- We see huge lines at the Kerch bridge. What other consequences of the strikes on temporarily occupied Crimea could you mention?

- We are now witnessing long lines at the railway station in Simferopol. The occupiers have reduced the number of trains from Simferopol to Moscow and other Russian cities. All the railway transport leaving Simferopol or Sevastopol and heading northwards necessarily goes through Dzhankoy. Then they are redirected earlier through Zaporizhia and Melitopol to Moscow, but now through the bridge over the Kerch Strait. To reach this bridge, trains still need to cross Dzhankoy. Everything is blocked there now. Therefore, passengers are taken by buses to Vladislavovka located near Feodosia. There, they take trains and travel from occupied Crimea to the territory of Russia.

Traffic on roads has increased during the day. I think they are vacationers. They are mostly Russian citizens who came to the resort because it is very difficult for them to go to other countries now. There are no visas, sanctions in many countries, so they went to Crimea. Now they are looking for ways to get out of there faster.

Our people say Russian citizens are no longer waiting for their planned vacations to end. So it was after the first explosion at the airfield in Novofedorivka and the explosions near Dzhankoy, as well as at the airfield in the settlement of Gvardeyskoye near Simferopol.

- You say the tourists leave. What about families of officers?

- We do not doubt that some of them have already left. We are now trying to monitor real estate ads in Crimea. So far, we have no data that would indicate a sharp increase in sales. I think we will witness it in the days to come because there have already been two such specific messages to those who have settled in Crimea and to the families of those who serve in the punitive bodies of the occupation authorities or servicemen in the occupied Crimea.

This happened as early as August 9, when at least nine modern military aircraft of the Russian army were destroyed near Saki in Novofedorivka. One of the most powerful depots was also destroyed near Dzhankoy. The parameters of this ammunition depot are still under determination, but everything looks like this depot in the village of Mayskoye near the Azovskoye settlement was used to concentrate modern anti-aircraft missile systems. One planned to deploy them not only on the peninsula but in Melitopol, the Kherson region. They were to be used against the Armed Forces of Ukraine then.

It seems that the AFU planned all of this and outpaced the enemy, who had his depot destroyed and lost the powerful weapons they intended to use during the new offensive.

- The Russians traditionally exaggerate that the local population suffers terribly from Ukrainian strikes. They say the Ukrainians are hitting the locals. Do you have any data on how much shrapnel reached the homes of locals?

- I'll tell it like it is. Any person living in the territory where military operations are underway, or subject to strikes or bombings, fears for one's life and the lives of loved ones. That's normal.

Regarding the explosions in Mayskoye. The fact is that this powerful warehouse, which detonated for more than one hour, was located a little bit away from the houses. It was an abandoned cattle-breeding complex. Russian occupants had set up an ammunition depot there. So right now we have no data on, God forbid, any casualties. I mean among civilians. We do have data that many houses have their roofs blown off.

There is a Crimean Tatar school in the village of Azovskoye. I know that almost all the windows were broken in the school building. There should be no casualties among civilians. We tell people everyone should be ready for such phenomena. They should have places prepared in advance to take care of themselves and their children.