Gerrard joined Newsweek in 2021 and had previously worked at Express Online
You can get in touch with Gerrard by emailing g.kaonga@newsweek.com
either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter
or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources
Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content
Multiple videos of explosions at a Russian military airfield have begun circulating on social media
"So far, I can only confirm the very fact of several explosions in the Novofedorovka area. I ask everyone to wait for official reports and not to produce versions," Oleg Kryuchkov, adviser to the head of Crimea, wrote on Telegram
deputy head of the administration of the Saki district
The cause of the explosions has not yet been provided
Videos on another Telegram channel show a massive plume of smoke rising into the sky following the explosion
The collection of videos has been viewed over 100,000 times on Telegram since being posted earlier today
According to Russian state-owned news agency Tass
ambulances and medical aviation were sent to the site following the explosions
The report added that the Saki military airfield
is used for basing aviation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
There is also a ground test training complex for practicing take-off and landing of naval aircraft
Political strategist Jason Jay Smart shared a video of tourists taking pictures of the smoke cloud while also remarking there were reports saying Ukraine fired missiles into Crimea
Ukraine has not yet officially come forward and confirmed this
"Reports say Ukraine fired 15 missiles into occupied-Crimea
The explosion is/was the airport of Novofedorvka," he tweeted
Reports say Ukraine🇺🇦 fired 15 missiles into 🇷🇺occupied-Crimea. The explosion is/was the airport at NovofedorovkaTons of videos of tourists driving out of Crimea as fast as they can… which is probably a good idea, as I suspect there might not be a bridge to Russia🇷🇺soon 😂 😂 pic.twitter.com/PNxPzvO2IB
"Tons of videos of tourists driving out of Crimea as fast as they can..
as I suspect there might not be a bridge to Russia soon."
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ukraine's Ministry of Defense for comment
This incident comes with just weeks until the conflict hits its 6-month mark
It is still unclear how the war between the two nations would come to an end
An advisor to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has voiced doubts that Russia would negotiate an end to the invasion in good faith
Speaking in an interview with the BBC's Ukrainian service
Mykhailo Podolyak said that Russia was predictable and said how talks would go
"Russia is so intellectually predictable," that it would be "obvious" how any negotiations would play out
He believes that Russia would seek to start talks with a promise to temporarily stop shelling areas it is trying to seize
Moscow would then portray the administrations in place in the already captured territories as de facto Russian
and so should be recognized as "lost," a position Ukraine would refuse to accept
"Then a banal story would take place," he said
This would involve a ceasefire being followed by a Ukrainian counterattack that would inflict blows on Russia
Moscow in turn would "start shelling our cities again" and through an information campaign
portray itself as the reasonable party in which
but Ukraine—because it is Ukraine that does not want to sit at the negotiating table."
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground
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several wounded in blasts near Crimea seaside resortRussia has attributed loud blasts at a key military airbase on the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula to exploding ammunitions
downplaying the possibility that the site was hit by Ukrainian fire.Dramatic amateur footage shared on social media appeared to show panicked holidaymakers fleeing a Crimean beach with young children
as ballooning clouds of grey smoke rose over the horizon
UN demands access to Ukraine nuclear plant after 'suicidal' attacks as Kyiv and Moscow trade blame
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