Blasts destroy ammunition depot in Crimea

Videos showed thick columns of black smoke with flames rising into the sky in Russian-annexed Crimea on Tuesday. Russia said this blast was an “act of sabotage” and did not name a perpetrator. The Ukrainian military has not made any official statement. But Ukrainian officials did say that Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, will not be spared from fighting. Russia demanded Ukraine recognize its control of Crimea as a condition for stopping the war.

What’s happening to civilians? Two people were injured and more than 3,000 have evacuated from two villages, said Sergei Aksyonov, Crimea’s regional leader. This is the second attack on the peninsula in the past two weeks. The first explosions happened on an airbase near a tourist beach. Russia claims the blasts were accidental, but analysts said satellite photos of the site and other evidence pointed to a Ukrainian attack.

Dig deeper: Listen to Anna Mandin’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines.