Arms dump blast ‘sabotage by drone’
UKRAINE: A massive explosion at an ammunition depot in Ukraine was caused by saboteurs, possibly using a drone, according to security officials in Kiev.
Two people were injured as the 60-hectare depot near Kalynivka in the Vynnytsya region went up in flames on Wednesday, and 30,000 people were evacuated from the area.
About 188,000 tonnes of munitions for Ukraine’s armed forces, including rockets for Smerch, Uragan and Grad launchers, were reportedly stored at the depot.
Suspicion is likely to fall on Russian special forces or rebels fighting government troops in the east of the country. Government forces have been at war with proMoscow separatists and Russian troops in eastern Ukraine since 2014.
Yury Biryukov, an adviser to Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak, said the fire had probably been started using a drone.
‘‘A soldier from one of the guard posts reported hearing a strange sound,’’ he said. ‘‘Several seconds later, the explosions began.’’
Ukraine’s security service said its officers would join the investigation, after military prosecutors opened a criminal case on a charge of sabotage.
Authorities evacuated local settlements and imposed a 50-kilometre no-fly zone around the site of the blaze, 270km west of Kiev. Photographs from the scene showed a ball of flame, and burning objects landing in fields and on a road.
Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, said during a visit to the region that ‘‘external factors’’ were to blame for the incident.
At a cabinet meeting yesterday, he said: ‘‘This is an arsenal of Ukrainian armies, and it’s destroyed. I think this has not happened by chance.’’
In March, a series of explosions at a Ukrainian army ammunition dump in Balakliya was also blamed on sabotage.