Thousands of people are being evacuated from Balakleya in the Kharkov region of Ukraine, as a massive fire has broken out at a munitions depot, which is said to be the largest in the country. There are reports of explosions and shattered windows.Chaotic scenes with hundreds of vehicles stuck in traffic jams were reported on social media after the Balakleya city administration ordered an emergency evacuation of most of the city.
Videos uploaded by local residents show a huge blaze with what appears to be a missile flying off in a random direction and falling to the ground, as detonations are heard in the background.
Evgeny, who lives near the munitions depot, was one of the first to witness the inferno. He told RT that the incident has been downplayed by the Ukrainian media.
“Ukrainian media report that nothing serious has happened, saying that just one explosion took place and no one was injured. But my friends and I, who saw [the incident] with our own eyes, say that… some people have been injured.”
Explosions are still occurring at the munitions depot, Evgeny said, adding that the entire city of Balakleya has been evacuated.
The civil defense department of the city’s district administration earlier told RIA Novosti that most of the population of Balakleya had been evacuated.
“The first wave of the evacuation has come to an end. Most of the population have been evacuated by buses. Now the buses are returning to evacuate the rest. Specialists are going from house to house checking who remains,” the district administration said.
There have been no immediate reports of any civilian casualty.
RT has multiple videos, as does DelfiTV. Here’s hoping that people stay safe, and that there are no casualties at all, and people will soon be restored to their homes.
Holy shit. That’s why people typically store munitions in concrete revetments away from towns.
Per rq, who alerted me to this:
And, a follow up to my question as to who did this:
This is terrifying. Half the world has gone crazy.
The BBC points out that in December 2015, a “drone was reported to have been used an earlier attempt to set the facility on fire” (Ukraine munitions blasts prompt mass evacuations).
(Accidentally cross-posted to poopyhead’s Political Madness All the Time.)
blf
This may have simply been a successful follow-up attempt. I’ll be keeping an eye out for information, though local internet news seems to have less information than yesterday.
rq@4, Yes, obviously, if the current incident is deliberate, then given there was a previous recent-ish attack(s?), this could easily be another attempt by the same actors.