Blasts in Russian-held zones hint at new Kyiv strike capabilities

KYIV • Explosions erupted overnight on Thursday near military bases deep within Russian-held areas of Ukraine and in Russia itself, an apparent display of Kyiv's growing ability to wreak havoc on Moscow's logistics far from the front lines.

In Crimea - the peninsula Russia seized and annexed in 2014 - explosions were reported near an air base in Belbek, on the south-west coast near Sevastopol, headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

On the opposite end of the peninsula, the sky was also lit up at Kerch near a huge bridge to Russia, with what Moscow said was fire from its air defences.

Inside Russia, two villages were evacuated after explosions at an ammunition dump in Belgorod province, near the Ukrainian border but more than 100km from territory controlled by Ukrainian forces.

Kyiv has cultivated an atmosphere of ambiguity around such explosions by withholding official comment on incidents in Crimea or inside Russia, while hinting that it was behind them, using long-range weapons or sabotage.

Russian officials reported no one hurt in Crimea or Belgorod. They said they had shot down drones in Belbek and Kerch, and confirmed that they had ordered the evacuation of two villages in Belgorod where they were investigating the cause of a fire.

Closer to the front, Kyiv also announced a number of strikes overnight behind Russian lines in southern Kherson province, including a bridge at the Kakhovska Dam, one of the last routes for Russia to supply thousands of troops on the west bank of the Dnipro River.

Ukraine hopes its apparent new-found ability to hit Russian targets behind the front lines can turn the tide in the conflict, disrupting supply lines Moscow needs to support its occupation.

Last week, a Russian air base on the Crimean coast was hit by simultaneous blasts that destroyed warplanes and left huge impact craters visible from space.

Meanwhile, Russian forces have stepped up their shelling of civilian areas of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, in recent days, in what British intelligence described as an apparent attempt to force Ukraine to keep troops in the area. Seventeen people were killed and 42 wounded in two separate Russian attacks there in the past two days, the regional governor said on Thursday.

Five more rockets hit the city early yesterday killing at least one person, he said.

In another development, the United Nations chief and the presidents of Turkey and Ukraine on Thursday discussed ways to end the war started by Russia and secure Europe's largest nuclear power station, as Moscow and Kyiv traded accusations over new shelling near the plant.

Ukraine's nuclear power operator said yesterday it suspected Moscow was planning to decouple the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from Ukraine's grid, a complex operation that Kyiv says could cause a disaster at Europe's largest atomic plant.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed building on a recent positive atmosphere to revive peace negotiations with Russia that took place in Istanbul in March.

"Personally, I maintain my belief that the war will ultimately end at the negotiating table. Mr Zelensky and Mr Guterres have the same opinion in this regard," Mr Erdogan said.

REUTERS