The first explosion went off at 15:20, 9 August, and jarred the houses in Novofedorivka, a settlement in Russia-occupied Crimea. A huge plume of black smoke appeared above the local military aerodrome right away, and ten more explosions went off within an hour. This was probably the worst thing the locals have seen since WW2.

Although there is active combat just 180 km away from Novofedorivka, Crimea’s authorities have continuously said that the peninsula was a save enough place for vacation since the start of Russia’s invasion in February. However, tourists abandoned the local beaches immediately after the first explosion, queuing their cars down the road leaving the settlement. Hundreds of cars and buses formed a 10 km long traffic jam on the way to the Crimean Bridge as the Novofedorivka situation urged people to run for their lives. The local authorities have evacuated people from the aerodrome-neighbouring houses.

When I ask my cab driver to take me to Novofedorivka, he acts surprised, but agrees with no doubt. Meanwhile, his girlfriend yells at him over the phone, saying that we both are crazy.

‘Surely Ukraine’s taking it out on us’

The Saky military airfield is home to one of Russia’s aviation regiments. Simply put, the Black Sea Fleet’s aviation is stationed here, mainly Su-30 fighter jets and Su-24 bombers.

There are residential buildings just a hundred feet away from it, separated by a low height fence, which is protected by armoured National Guard soldiers, posted 50 feet away from each other around the perimeter. As we ask them if anything happened lately, they reply coldly with «nothing, move on.» It smells of fume here, and there is grass visible inside the area, burning low.

A huge line of cars leaving Novofedorivka is still there even by night. These are not just Novofedorivka residents or tourists: people are leaving the entire west coast of Crimea, including Saky, Yevpatoria and Chornomorske.

Vladimir, a retired serviceman who came to Novofedorivka on vacation from Saint Petersburg, was in the bathroom when he heard the first explosion.

“The house began to shake so hard that I jumped up on my toilet, and there was another explosion after ten minutes. My brother had his windows smashed, his TV set fell on the floor,” says Vladimir. He speaks haltingly and repeats that what had happened seems an unusual thing even for a man of his military experience. “Maybe the arsenal exploded, but we’ll never get to know the truth. Nobody’s going to tell us anything. Sergey Aksyonov [the Russia-appointed local governor] came here, said that it was okay, and that the explosion was far away from the recreation area, but it’s half a mile’s distance actually. Surely Ukraine’s taking it out on us, they will do something to the Crimean Bridge, no doubt about that. They feel offended, that’s why they’re doing this.”

Mikhail Malygin and his wife Olga came here from Moscow. They refer to what happened as “strikes.”

“We set off for Saky right after the first two strikes and saw that the police had blocked the road to Novofedorivka. The people started panicking, and there was an accident, too. Someone was driving too fast,” Mikhail says. “The locals said it couldn’t be the aerodrome, said there was an antiaircraft defence system there. But we saw a huge plume of smoke above the aerodrome as we left the settlement. We stopped for a smoke break, and there were two mushroom clouds. It was either sabotage or a drone that caused the explosion,

When the explosions ended, the Malygins decided to return to Novofedorivka. They say there was a strong smell of smoke in the settlement, as if there was a forest fire nearby. However, it became much more quiet in the evening, and even some cafes re-opened to serve visitors.

The local police set up roadblocks in the centre of the settlement at half past seven in the evening, not allowing anyone in. However, one can simply walk through the backyards to the town hall, which is located almost near the aerodrome fence. The law enforcers refuse to explain why they had cordoned off the quarter in such a weird manner.

The shops and drugstores in Novofedorivka’s centre are closed, and many buildings have their windows smashed. The perplexed locals wander around the streets filled with broken glass and discuss where they should go and what they should take along. They also make fun of Russia’s “negligence”, although it is obvious that they are pretty nervous. There are police officers patrolling the streets; sometimes they stop by and check people’s IDs and ask them where they are going. “We don’t want any marauders here,” they say.

“When the explosions started, me and my guests rushed to the basement,” says a woman who works as an administrator in a local hotel. “Formally I’m obliged to run around the rooms and ask people to evacuate in case of an emergency. But this wasn’t necessary as everyone rushed out of their rooms immediately. The people were panicking and pushed one another out of the way as if it was our quarter that was ablaze, not the aerodrome. This is understandable, of course, nobody expected a vacation to be like this. We hid in the basement for an hour and a half until we made sure this was over. There was a woman who wailed like a banshee, others were simply in some sort of a mental block. The kids were hugging their parents. Most of them left; a total of 40 families stayed with us, and 34 of them abandoned their rooms. We gave them a refund, of course. I think the vacation season here is over this year.

“Did you have a feeling that coming to Crimea is unsafe this year when the season started?” I ask her.

“I didn’t, but I couldn’t assure the tourists, obviously,” she replies with a sigh. “And we need to earn our living after all.”

There is no panic in shops or drugstores.

“Four people bought a lot of grain, canned food and drinking water,” says Cemil, a man who owns a small grocery store.

The residents of the aerodrome-neighbouring houses were evacuated to a college dormitory in Pryberezhne; and this is where I go the next morning. Some of them are preparing to return already.

“The following is the list of people who are allowed to return,” says Anton Novikov, a local official, as he speaks to the crowd of evacuees. “There are buses waiting for you outside. If your name is not on the list, relax and wait for your turn.” There are updates every half an hour. A woman in the crowd asks her daughter:

“And what if they shell the entire settlement, what are we gonna do?”

“Mommy, keep it cool, come on. It’s gonna be okay. It was just an accident, our own soldiers messed something up.”

“And what if it was Ukraine?”

“The officials say it was just an accident. Don’t worry.”

A boy then breaks down and asks his grandma mournfully:

“What if they attack us?”

“They won’t, did you hear what your mommy said?”

An old woman asks a young lady in seek of support: “There are broken windows everywhere. How do I return?” Many people in the crowd are also concerned about the windows: “We have friends by the sea, maybe we should give them a call. I think they will let us stay for the night until we repair our homes. We can’t just sleep there with no windows.”

Possible causes and compensations

It is uncertain what actually happened in Novofedorivka on 9 August. Russia’s Defence Ministry says “it was not an attack by Ukraine’s military”. “There was an explosion of munitions at the Saky aerodrome, no aircraft were damaged,” reads the agency’s statement. They added, however, that the exact reason behind the explosion would be investigated.

Margarita Simonyan, one of Russia’s leading propagandists, said her sources had told her it might have been a subversive action. However, the locals say they heard “a sound of something flying in the air right before the explosion” as they speak to both Novaya Gazeta.Europe and the local media.

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry was sarcastic as it commented on the matter: “The Defence Ministry of Ukraine cannot determine the reason behind the incident; however, we would like to remind you of the fire safety regulations and the ban on smoking outside designated locations,” making an obvious reference to the claims Russia’s propagandists made in April as they said the explosion of the Moskva cruiser happened due to “an unextinguished cigarette butt.”

“The residents of the damaged houses will be visited by members of the special committee set up to evaluate the damages,” says Anton Novikov. “The police have sealed off the houses, and we have police officers guarding them, so there will be no trespassers.”

It is unclear how much money the affected people will receive from the government. The casualty figures are growing: no more than three injured civilians were reported immediately after the explosions; now the official data says a total of fourteen people were injured, and one person was killed.

“It is totally safe to visit Crimea,” Alexey Chernyak, Russia’s MP from Crimea, said after the incident.