Ammo depot fire and explosions in Crimea damage railway tracks, houses

A fire broke out at the ammunition storage site of a military units near the rural settlement of Maiskoye in Crimea. No one was seriously injured as a result of the incident, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"According to the report from the scene, no serious victims have been identified at the moment,” the representatives for the Russian Defence Ministry said, noting that now experts were establishing the causes of the incident.

Later, however, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the fire at the ammo depot started as a result of an act of sabotage, TASS reports. The department noted that explosions caused damage to a number of civilian facilities, including power lines, power plants, railway tracks and residential buildings.

The head of the Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, who went to the scene, said that two were injured in the explosions. Their lives are out of danger, he added.

Explosions at the ammo storage damaged railroad tracks, emergency services said.

Sergei Aksyonov later announced on his Telegram channel that the authorities decided to shorten the route of trains traveling to the Crimean Peninsula from mainland Russia. Trains will stop at Vladislavovka station, and then passengers will have to switch to buses to travel to places of their destination, the governor explained.

Later, Aksyonov said that the railway tracks had been restored, TASS reports.

Separate small explosions can still be heard at the ammo detonation site, Oleg Kryuchkov, adviser to the head of the republic on information policy said, RIA Novosti reports.

Ammunition started exploding at a warehouse in the village of Mayskoye in the Dzhankoy district of Crimea at about six in the morning. The sound of the explosions woke up local villagers. Some people decided to leave on their own, others were being evacuated from the village.

Russia has been conducting the special military operation in Ukraine since February 24. On August 8, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the operation would continue until its objectives were met.