A series of large explosions rocked the town of Nova Kakhovka in Ukraine’s Kherson region on Monday night. The city, like a large part of Kherson, is under Russian occupation.
It is the second major explosion in four days in the city, the site of an important hydroelectric dam and link to Crimea’s water supply through the North Crimean Canal.
A video posted on social media showed loud explosions and a huge fireball lighting up the night sky.
Sergey Khlan, a Ukrainian official who is a member of the Kherson regional council, said on Facebook: “In Nova Kakhovka minus one Russian ammunition depot. They brought, brought, piled, piled, and now they have fireworks at night.”
Khlan, who is not in Kherson, warned residents of Nova Kakhovka not to go outdoors.
“Please take care and stay away from the blast site,” he said.
Russia’s state news agency TASS did not mention an explosion at a munitions depot, but late on Wednesday it reported: “Ukraine’s armed forces attacked the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant in the Kherson region, a source said.”
But the deputy head of the Russian-backed military-civilian administration in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, said the Ukrainian missiles did not hit the hydroelectric plant.
TASS later reported that warehouses of potassium nitrate had exploded. Potassium nitrate is a highly flammable substance used as an ingredient in fertilizers and was the cause of the explosion in Beirut two years ago.
CNN could not confirm the cause of the explosions or what was destroyed.
“There are casualties, damage has been done to the market, hospital and houses,” TASS reported, citing the Russian-backed civil-military administration in Kherson.
Ukrainian forces have stepped up rocket and long-range artillery attacks on Russian command posts and ammunition sites over the past week.
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