A series of large explosions shook the city of New Kakhovka in the Kherson region of Ukraine on Monday night. The city, like much of Kherson, is under Russian occupation.
It is the second major explosion in four days in the city, the site of a major hydroelectric dam and a link to the water supply to the Crimea through the North Crimean canal.
The video posted on social media showed loud explosions and a huge fireball illuminating the night sky.
Serhiy Khlan, a Ukrainian official who is a member of the Kherson regional council, said on Facebook: “In New Kakhovka minus a Russian ammunition depot. They carried, carried, store, store and now have fireworks at night.”
Khlan, who is not in Kherson, warned New Kakhovka residents not to venture outdoors.
“Please be careful and don’t go near the site of the detonation,” he said.
The Russian state news agency TASS made no reference to the explosion of an ammunition dump, but on Wednesday afternoon reported: “The Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant in the region of Kherson, ”a source said.
But the deputy head of the civilian and military administration in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, said Ukrainian missiles did not hit the hydroelectric plant.
TASS later said the stores with potassium nitrate had exploded. Potassium nitrate is a highly combustible substance that is used as an ingredient in fertilizers and was the cause of the Beirut explosion two years ago.
CNN cannot confirm the cause of the explosions or what was destroyed.
“There are casualties, the market, the hospital and the houses were damaged,” TASS reported, citing the Kherson civil-military administration with Russian support.
Ukrainian forces have stepped up long-range missile and artillery attacks on Russian command posts and ammunition sites last week.