Arms depot near Ichnia contained 69,500 tonnes of munitions, including 43,000 tonnes ready for use, - Ukraine's defense minister says
69,500 tonnes of munitions, including 43,000 tonnes ready for use were kept at the ammunition storage facility in the Chernihiv region when the fire broke out.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said at a government meeting on Wednesday, Censor.NET reports citing Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
"The depot was storing 69,500 tonnes of munitions, including 43,000 tonnes ready for use, when the fire broke out," Poltorak said.
"The depot has a capacity of 127,000 tonnes of munitions. It was storing 125,000 tonnes at the beginning of 2014. Since then, 56,000 tonnes of munitions have been moved to other bases and depots where we have the ability to store them safely. This is a load of about 1,500 train cars, 50 trains, considering our limited loading/unloading abilities," he said.
The depot also stored component parts and munitions which are not commissioned as weapons of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Poltorak said.
"For instance, there are Tulpan mortar shells. We have no such weapons, and the munitions were prepared for scrapping," he said.
According to him, there was one explosion every three minutes at the burning artillery ammo depot in the Ichnia district of the Chernihiv region on Wednesday morning.
"As of this morning, the intensity of detonations stood at one explosion every three minutes. There was a powerful explosion overnight," Poltorak said.
"Aircraft of the State Emergency Service started fighting the fire in the morning. [...] There is still smoke inside the depot, but I believe we can deal with it in the near future," he said.
As reported, an explosion rocked the support area of the 6th arms depot near the town of Ichnia, the Chernihiv region, around 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 9 setting it on fire. The corresponding security measures were introduced all across the Chernihiv region.
The State Emergency Service reported at least 10,000 locals being evacuated from the danger zone.
