More than 2,000 people have been evacuated from their homes following a huge blast at a Crimean military base, according to Russian officials.
Photos on Wednesday showed a huge fireball erupting high into the air over the Kirovske military base in Crimea, with thick black smoke clouding the air.
Russian emergency officials in Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, said more than 2,200 people were evacuated from four villages because of a fire at the military facility.
Russia-appointed Governor Sergei Aksyonov of Crimea said on the Telegram messaging app: “It is planned to temporarily evacuate residents of four settlements - this is more than 2,000 people.”
Mr Aksyonov said a major road had also been closed.
He did not specific a cause for the fire.
It comes two days after an attack on a bridge linking Russia to the peninsula that the Kremlin has blamed on Ukraine.
Russia launched an intense series of nighttime air attacks sending drones and missiles toward places across Ukraine on Tuesday, targeting the southern port city of Odesa for a second night in a row, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday.
“A difficult night of air attacks for all of Ukraine,” Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said in a statement on Telegram. Ukrainian authorities reported more drones and missiles sent against more parts of Ukraine than in recent days.
Mr Popko said the attacks were especially fierce in Odesa for a second consecutive night.
Odesa’s regional Governor Oleh Kiper said the attack included “dozens of missiles and strike drones” aimed at the port and infrastructure facilities.
Debris from missiles and drones that were shot down fell on apartment buildings, seaside resorts and warehouses, sparking fires and injuring several people.
A nine-year-old boy and five other apartment block residents sought assistance for injuries caused by shattered glass and other objects.
Elsewhere in the city, a downed Kh-59 missile created a large crater in the ground, and left three civilians injured.
Eight Shahed drones were also shot down in the wider Odesa region, where two warehouses containing tobacco and fireworks were reported damaged.
Russia also attacked Kyiv with Iranian-made Shahed drones but with “no result,” said Mr Popko.
Officials in the Ukrainian regions of Poltava and Kirovohrad also reported attacks.
The latest barrage came one day after Russia carried out what Moscow’s Defense Ministry described as a “strike of retribution” on Ukrainian military facilities near Odesa and the coastal city of Mykolaiv, using sea-launched precision weapons.
Russia blames Ukraine for a July 17 strike on the Kerch Bridge, which links Russia with the Crimea, and is a key artery for military and civilian supplies.
Ukraine’s top security agency appeared tacitly to admit to a role in the July 17 attack, but stopped short of directly claiming responsibility, echoing their responses after previous similar attacks on the Kerch Bridge.
