Ukrainian officials seized on explosions that hit a Russian military base as fodder to boost Ukraine’s morale as its forces stepped up a counteroffensive to reverse Moscow’s territorial gains in over five months of war.
Ukrainian officials welcomed the blasts as a symbolic blow to Russia’s grip on the area but stopped short of claiming responsibility. Kyiv has vowed to liberate the peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech late Tuesday that the war had begun in Crimea and would only end when it was retaken.