Thousands Evacuated After Giant Fire at Russian Base in Crimea

A huge fire at a Russian military training ground in occupied Crimea triggered the evacuation of over 2,000 people from four villages nearby, a local Kremlin-installed governor said Wednesday. Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed leader of Crimea, also announced that a nearby highway had been closed. “It is planned to temporarily evacuate residents of four settlements-this is more than 2,000 people,” Aksyonov wrote on Telegram, providing no explanation for how the fire in the Kirovske district started. Videos shared on social media showed large columns of flame and smoke, with some reports suggesting that the fire was still burning early on Wednesday morning. The blaze comes two days after an explosion damaged the bridge linking the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula.