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Was 18 August 2022 a turning point for Crimea?
Summary
A look back at a day of explosions across Crimea and Belgorod Oblast, and the strikes that preceded and followed them.
What did the people of Kerch, Sevastopol and Belgorod Oblast hear on 18 August 2022? Reports that day described a string of explosions at military sites in Crimea and in Russia's Belgorod Oblast, believed to have been launched by Ukraine.
A day of blasts
An explosion and large fire hit an arms depot near Timonovo in Belgorod Oblast. Explosions were also reported at Stary Oskol Airport and in Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka, in Kherson Oblast.
In eastern Crimea, residents of Kerch and nearby villages reported multiple explosions. Crimean officials said air defences had been activated near the city, adding that there was no danger to the town or the Crimean Bridge.
Explosions were also reported at Sevastopol International Airport. The Governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said Russian air defences had shot down a Ukrainian Air Force drone near the airport.
What came before
The day followed a run of incidents. On 16 August 2022, an explosion at an ammunition depot in northern Crimea forced civilians to be evacuated. Observers suggested at the time that Ukrainian forces might have hit the depot.
On 17 August 2022, Russia launched missile strikes on Odesa and Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, in response to the sabotage bombings of military facilities in Crimea. The same day, a Russian missile hit a dormitory in Kharkiv, killing seven civilians and injuring 16 others, according to the city's mayor and top military administrator.
Kharkiv lies about 30 kilometres from the Russian border and is Ukraine's second-largest city. It had been a major target for Russian forces early in the invasion, and the fighting for it had run from February to May 2022.
The picture on 18 August
Taken together, the reports showed a pattern in which blasts at military facilities in Crimea and Russia were followed by Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities. The Russian side's public account of the Crimean incidents was limited to air-defence activity and the downing of one drone near Sevastopol. The reports from the covered day did not establish who was behind each explosion, and the attribution to Ukraine remained a belief rather than a confirmed fact.
What the reports did make plain was that places far from the front line, including Kerch near the Crimean Bridge, Sevastopol and Belgorod Oblast, were now the scene of explosions and air-defence alerts, while civilians in Kharkiv, Odesa and Mykolaiv remained under missile fire.
