Thousands evacuated after blasts at Ukraine ammo depot

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More than 12,000 people were evacuated in the city of Chernigov, northern Ukraine, after powerful blasts rocked a local munitions depot, according to Ukraine's defense ministry on Tuesday.

Ukrainian authorities suspect sabotage is behind the explosions. No casualties were reported at the depot.

The first reports of explosions came at around 3:30 a.m. local time (0030 GMT), said the ministry in a statement.

Smoke rises after a fire and explosions hit the Ukrainian defense ministry's ammunition depot in the eastern Chernihiv region, Ukraine, October 9, 2018. /VCG Photo

Hundreds of people have been deployed to the site, according to the emergency services, and the head of Ukraine's armed forces has visited the site.

A witness later saw powerful explosions continuing at the depot. The blasts shattered windows in surrounding village houses while explosions could also be heard in a nearby wood where some ammunition appeared to have come down.

The fact that explosions were set off at intervals in different parts of the depot pointed to sabotage, a spokesperson for the defense ministry said.

A local resident walks past a police car on the road near Zaudaika village in Ukraine's northern Chernihiv Region, October 9, 2108. /VCG Photo

"Two simultaneous explosions, and after five minutes two more explosions (in another part of the depot) suggest it was military sabotage," Defense Ministry spokesman Rodion Tymoshenko said at a press briefing.

Authorities closed airspace in a 30km radius and suspended road and rail transport. The emergency services reported that gas and electricity supplies to the area had been disrupted.

Several large fires have hit ammunition and weapons depots in recent years. Last year, massive explosions at a military depot in the Vynnytsya region, 270km west of Kiev, forced the authorities to evacuate 24,000 people.

(Top image via the State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

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