A video on Facebook showing a large explosion behind a building has overlaying text claiming: “They just blew up the Ukraine international airport”.
All signs point to the fact that this video does not show what you might describe as “the Ukraine international airport”.
CNN reported that it had verified that the footage showed an explosion at Melitopol Air Base in Ukraine on 24 February 2022. We aren’t able to verify whether civilian flights ever operated from here, and evidence points to it being a military base.
Melitopol is a city in the south-east of Ukraine, over 300 miles from Kyiv. According to the BBC, as of 28 February, western officials suggested it is still in Ukrainian hands, despite the Russian defence ministry’s claims that its troops entered Melitopol without resistance.
It’s unclear what “the Ukraine international airport” means exactly. Ukraine has multiple airports from which international flights departed, before it closed its airspace to civilian flights last Thursday.
The country’s biggest airport, Kyiv’s Boryspil airport, had reportedly been struck by Russian attacks, although subsequent satellite imagery appears to show the airport looking relatively unscathed.