Warehouses with ammunition were blown up in Ukraine - Kyiv suspects subversion and asks for NATO assistance
During the night of March 23 in a military depot in the city of Balakliia, located 95 km from the city of Kharkiv, a fire occurred which caused the detonation of ammunition. The warehouse area is 680 hectares. Ammunition was delivered from the depot to the war zone in the east of Ukraine. There are no casualties among the military and civilian population, but a 54-year-old woman received shrapnel wounds.
The fire occurred at several sites where artillery shells of 125 and 152 mm caliber were stored. In the morning, explosions of varying intensity were observed on the territory of the military depot.
Due to the emergency situation, the electricity and gas supply have been cut off in the affected area. Additionally, the movement of railway passenger transport has been suspended, and the airspace within 50 kilometers closed for all aircraft.
About 20 thousand local residents have been evacuated from the nearest settlements. The evacuation zone is 10 km around the epicenter of the events. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported that the explosions were occurring on the technical territory of the depot. The preliminary investigation showed that based on the area of the warehouses and the amount of ammunition, the explosions can continue for up to 4 days.
The Security Service of Ukraine [SBU] believes that the explosion in the warehouses is sabotage. The SBU has opened corresponding criminal proceedings. The head of the department, Vasyl Hrytsak, stated that the investigation has established witnesses who saw how the objects that caused the detonation and explosions in the warehouses were dropped from an unmanned aerial vehicle.
After the incident, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko instructed the Ministry of Defense to strengthen the protection of all military facilities. He also gave urgent instructions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and the State Emergency Service to seek NATO assistance for humanitarian demining in Balakliia. This was stated on the Twitter-page of the Head of State.
Towards evening, the Ministry of Defense reported that the intensity of explosions in the ammunition depot in Balakliia had decreased. This allows authorities to proceed with containment of the fire. Earlier, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman stated that the fire had engulfed almost half of the depot.
The European Union representatives expressed their concern over the incident. In particular, the former Deputy Minister of National Defense of Poland, the Ex-Commander of the Ground Forces Waldemar Skrzypczak, stated that Ukraine should seek international experts from NATO countries or the EU to investigate the fire in the warehouse in Balakliia.
"In connection with the fact that there is actually an undeclared war by Russia against Ukraine, and that it is certainly not the separatists that launched the combat drones, it is necessary to initiate the creation of an international commission to investigate the causes of the explosions in the warehouse. Ukraine should turn to NATO or EU experts to help investigate the causes of this fire, "said Skrzypczak.
According to him, the possibility of creating such a commission with the participation of Western experts is "real", since Europe needs to know what is actually happening in Ukraine.
"This is not some minor threat, but a violation of the European security system," the general stressed. He also said that none of the countries of the eastern flank of NATO is currently ready to counteract the attacks of assault UAVs (Unmanned aerial vehicles), and that this is a challenge for the entire Alliance.
"We have no means to counter drones that could carry small bombs. They are difficult to detect, and this is a threat to NATO, "said the Former Deputy Minister of National Defense of Poland. He stressed that it is necessary for the West to create a system to counter combat assault drones capable of carrying explosives.
This is not the first attack on ammunition depots in Balakliia. In late 2015, saboteurs had already attacked them. Explosive devices were then thrown through the fence of the military unit by drones; however, then the fire was contained and extinguished.