The version of the sabotage

The military prosecutor's office of Ukraine qualified a fire and explosions in a warehouse with ammunition in the Vinnitsa region as a sabotage. This was stated by SBU press secretary Elena Gitlyanskaya, UNIAN reports .

"The military prosecutor's office of the Southern Region introduced criminal proceedings under Article 113 of the Criminal Code - this is a sabotage. Our employees will be part of the investigation group, operational and investigative actions continue," said Sleytanskaya.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko convenes a military office in connection with the incident. “He decided to convene a military cabinet with the participation of the Prime Minister, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Minister of Defense, Head of the General Staff, head of the SBU, as well as the leadership of the National Police, the National Guard and Emergency Service immediately after they returned from Vinnitsa,” the head of state wrote . Poroshenko received a report of the head of the General Staff and the head of the SBU, after which he instructed them to fly to the Vinnitsa region.

On Tuesday evening, at about 22:00 on the artisans near Kalinovka, a fire began, accompanied by explosions of ammunition. The incident happened at the 48th arsenal of the Ministry of Defense, on which tank shells are stored. More than a thousand people and 149 units of equipment participate in the elimination of the consequences of an emergency.

Of the settlements adjacent to the scene, about 30 thousand people were evacuated. In a radius of 50 km above the explosion zone, airspace are closed. In connection with the emergency, routes of 47 passenger trains have been changed. The entrances to the Vinnitsa region along the M-21 Vinnitsa-Zhitomir-Mogilev highway were blocked.

It is reported that at least two people were injured.

By morning, the intensity of explosions in warehouses in Kalinovka has decreased significantly. The liquidation of the foci of the fire continues, the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces of the Armed Forces reported. The sappers began clearing the territory of the warehouses and around them. Then the check of the territory of evacuated settlements for the presence of explosive objects will begin.

According to the adviser to the President of Ukraine Yuri Biryukov, an unmanned aerial vehicle could be the cause of the fire and explosions. “The fighter managed to report on a strange sound from one of the posts. A few seconds later the gaps began on the open area. The perimeter was guarded reliably, so yes - it looks like a drone. And yes, the SBU tried to intercept. They say that someone was even detained the day before. But someone broke through,” Biryukov wrote .

At the same time, the presidential adviser said that only open storage areas were injured, while underground storage facilities, concrete hangars and brick warehouses were not damaged.

On March 23, in a warehouse of tank and artillery shells near the city of Balakli, an explosion occurred , after which a fire began, causing detonation of 125- and 152-mm shells at several warehouse venues. The head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak said that there were no victims as a result of the incident.

19 thousand people were evacuated - residents of Balakli, as well as neighboring villages of Verbovka and Yakovenkovo. The territory within a radius of 7 kilometers from the detonation site is declared a danger zone; On the roads installed checkpoints.

The incident was regarded as sabotage. Poltorak said that the sabotage did not cause serious damage to Ukraine’s defense capabilities, since after the start of the ATO, the most ammunition stored in this arsenal was moved to other objects, as well as directly to the battles zone.