OFFICIALS DISPUTE AFTERMATH OF BLASTS

After explosions tore through a Russian air base in Crimea on Tuesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry quickly played down the extent of the damage, saying that a munitions blast had left no casualties and that no equipment had been destroyed.

Videos from the scene and an assessment by local officials, who declared a state of emergency, told a different story, with at least one person killed, more than a dozen wounded and hundreds moved into shelters. More than 60 apartment buildings were damaged, along with 20 stores and other buildings, officials said. And on the grounds of the base, after the huge plumes of smoke cleared, the remains of a warplane could be seen apparently melted into the tarmac. Satellite imagery showed craters, burn marks and at least eight destroyed fighter jets.

The images and the report by local officials Wednesday contradicted the Kremlin’s earlier account of what had happened in Crimea, a strategic peninsula in southern Ukraine that Russia illegally annexed in 2014, and suggested that the destruction there was far greater than acknowledged.

If Ukraine’s military and partisans were responsible for the blasts, as a senior Ukrainian official said, it would represent not only an embarrassment to President Vladimir Putin, who often celebrates the annexation, but also a challenge to his military’s ability to defend occupied territory that it has heavily fortified for years.

It is not yet clear whether the explosions will hinder Russia’s ability to defend against a developing counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces in the south. But the extensive damage to areas near the blast, along with the satellite imagery and video of the jet wreckage, suggests significant destruction to military assets.

Damage to the air base itself was difficult to assess Wednesday. One video that emerged in the aftermath, verified by The New York Times, showed the charred nose cone of a fighter jet, its fuselage a black, shapeless mass.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that the episode was caused by the explosion of stockpiled ordnance for warplanes at the base. The statement did not mention Ukraine or its military.