Massive Ukraine Munitions Blasts May Have Been Caused By a Drone (bbc.com)

dryriver writes: The BBC reports that 20,000 people are being evacuated from the immediate area around a munition dump in Ukraine that has gone up in flames. The 350 hectare munition dump near Kharkiv is around 100km (60 miles) from fighting against Russian-backed separatists and was used to supply military units in the conflict zone in nearby Luhansk and Donetsk. A drone was reported to have been used in an earlier attempt to set the facility on fire in December 2015. Authorities are now investigating whether someone possibly flew a drone over the facility that dropped an explosive device that caused the stored munitions to catch fire and explode. Ukrainian authorities believe that the conflagration at the facility is the result of sabotage.

Comments

Neglect is more likely

[voislav98]

There has been a number of ammunition depot explosions over the last 15 years in across Eastern Europe. 2 in Serbia, 6 in Bulgaria since 2000, Gerdec in Albania, Cobasna in Moldova, Ukraine itself in 2015. Cold War explosives are becoming unstable and they tend to explode on their own, especially when there is insufficient money to maintain proper storage.

Re:Neglect is more likely

[PopeRatzo]

Cold War explosives are becoming unstable and they tend to explode on their own, especially when there is insufficient money to maintain proper storage.

You know what else is becoming unstable? Vladimir Putin's political enemies and journalists. They're dropping like flies, literally. Earlier this week, one mysteriously flew out a fifth floor window.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mikeh...

And just yesterday, one was mysteriously gunned down in Kiev.

https://www.adn.com/nation-wor...

Since the election, we've had nine prominent opponents of Vladimir Putin become unstable and expire mysteriously. Such coincidence!

Great advice

[s.petry]

While sabotage is possible, so is carelessness from a soldiers assigned to the depot. When I was in the Army I was a member of a team who did pre ARTEP OPFOR. Supply units were horrible, the worst of the back lines units. It's boring work for the soldiers, leading to massive complacency and struggles with morale. Medical units were much more alert, much busier, and tended to have much higher morale.

Considering many of these depots are not as well constructed or older, it only takes a small accident to have a big result.

Re:Great advice

[rtb61]

The most logical cause for the fire, this based upon EU and US claims about the Ukraine government being extremely corrupt and incompetent, someone stole a bunch of arms and munitions and wanted to cover up the theft by setting the facility on fire. The likely destination of those stolen arms and munitions, the same place as so much of Ukraine's other stolen arms and munitions (the reason why the Ukraine was so incompetent in a war against it's own), where ever illegal arms merchants currently profit the most, from the Middle East to Africa, who ever is the highest bidder, whether it Saudi Arabia, the CIA, or some other despot or war lord whether or not they are pretending to be religious freaks. So likely a quick check on vehicles that left that compound in the last few weeks, will lead you directly to the culprits. It is even possible those arms and munitions might not even be leaving the Ukraine but are to be used in a new even more radical coup than the last, good luck to Ukraine's neighbours and the US will likely need to be stationing more troops around the Ukraine whilst pretending they are about Russian aggression. US control of the situation seems to be deteriorating, 5 billion plus pissed away, apart from the gold the US was able to steal from Ukrainians, watch the disappear into private coffers.