New satellite images show damage at Russian air base struck in Crimea

Russia has denied aircraft were damaged and said explosions at the base on Tuesday were accidental. Ukraine has not publicly claimed responsibility for the attack.

Satellite pictures released on Thursday showed devastation at a Russian air base in Crimea, hit in an attack that suggested Kyiv may have obtained new long-range strike capability with potential to change the course of the war.

Pictures from independent satellite firm Planet Labs showed three near-identical craters where buildings at Russia’s Saki air base had been struck with apparent precision. The base, on the southwest coast of Crimea, suffered extensive fire damage with the burnt-out husks of at least eight destroyed warplanes clearly visible.

Russia has denied aircraft were damaged and said explosions at the base on Tuesday were accidental. Ukraine has not publicly claimed responsibility for the attack or said exactly how it was carried out.

Separately, the two sides accused each other of shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear atomic power plant again on Thursday, days after trading identical accusations that raised international concerns that the deployment of weapons there risked triggering a catastrophe.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres early on Thursday called on both sides to halt all fighting near the plant – Europe’s largest – held by Russian troops and operated by Ukrainian workers and near the front line in the fighting.

Ukraine’s Energoatom said the complex was struck five times on Thursday, including near where radioactive materials are stored, but nobody were injured and radiation levels remained normal.

Russian-appointed local officials said Ukraine shelled the plant twice, disrupting a shift changeover, Russia’s TASS news agency said.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.