NOW DO MOSCOW:

Photographs have gone viral of discombobulated Russian holiday makers scrambling out of their cabana on the beach against the backdrop of a huge, dark plume of smoke, as have videos of a miles-long traffic jam of vacationers hurrying back to Russia along the only bridge system connecting the country to Crimea.

In one video, a Russian woman weeps from the back seat of her car: "I don't want to leave Crimea. ... How cool it is here."

Even more delightful to Ukrainians is how Russian state media quickly dismissed the event, claiming the explosions were a result of "poor fire safety," an explanation that Ukraine's Ministry of Defense mocked by reiterating the "prohibition of smoking in unspecified places."

Moscow's denials that any aircraft were damaged in the subsequent fire also collapsed as quickly as Crimea's tourist season.

An Su-24 fighter bomber shown lying on a blackened tarmac on Tuesday was clearly destroyed. And satellite imagery now confirms the extent of the devastation, which may be even greater than what Ukraine's Air Force assessed. The base is littered with the burned-out husks of 15 to 20 costly Russian aircraft.

Saki Air Base was constructed in typical Soviet style, with hardened ammunition bunkers and blast-protected parking for each aircraft. The purpose of such measures was to minimize the effect of either an enemy attack or the kind of accident the Kremlin says just occurred. Yet satellite images of the base taken just days earlier show many of the blast-protected hardstands not being used. A number of Russian warplanes were simply parked next to one another on the airport's apron.

A senior Ukrainian Ministry of Defense official confirmed Kyiv's responsibility to Yahoo News within hours of the attack. "It's just getting warmed up," he said, indicating that more operations like this one are in the offing. 

Tweet   @brothersjudd