Translated material
Explosion in the military commandant's office in the Leningrad region. What is known
On the afternoon of February 17, the building of the military commandant’s office in a military unit in the city of Sertolovo, Leningrad Region, collapsed, killing three people. Information about other victims is being clarified. According to preliminary data, another person was injured. Eyewitnesses say there was an explosion. There is no official information about its reasons yet. According to the relatives of conscripts, two weeks ago another explosion occurred in the same unit No. 71717, as a result of which three conscripts burned to death.
"The explosion echoed"
Governor of the Leningrad Region Alexander Drozdenko was the first official to confirm the fact of the collapse of the building in his Telegram channel. According to him, he “instructed the security bloc to assist the military in clearing the rubble and rescuing the victims.”
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This part used to house a former tank regiment; it is located opposite the market and residential buildings of Sertolovo. There is an armored personnel carrier on a pedestal in front of the unit’s gates. And behind them are brick buildings in which the military police, commandant’s office and other garrison management bodies are located. According to the latest data, the deputy head of the field bank and two contract soldiers were killed during the explosion.
Residents of Sertolovo, who happened to be near the unit at the time of the collapse, told Sever.Realiya that they did not notice any “strengthening and arrival of the security unit.”
– I heard the explosion at about half past two, because I was near school No. 1. All that was heard was the sound of an explosion, like when a cannon was fired at the Peter and Paul Fortress. It echoed. I can only compare it with the Peter and Paul Fortress, because I have never heard other similar explosions. If there was smoke, it was not visible from such a distance,” says Sertolov resident Marina (the names of all interlocutors have been changed for their safety).
According to her, ordinary residents did not have access to the closed part anyway, so no additional cordon was put up after the emergency.
“They didn’t even evacuate the school, although it is located nearby.” And it boomed so loudly that the windows shook. And in the houses at a distance they began to tremble. We have something to compare with - training exercises are underway. From time to time, various sounds reach us from the unit, militarized, so to speak. But I don't remember this. It was like standing next to a cannon, and I was definitely a kilometer away from that building,” says Marina.
Judging by local media photographs and footage of the destroyed building, the explosion destroyed the second and third floors of the military prosecutor's office building.
“It’s very far from the Vyborg highway to Industrialnaya street, the distance is quite large, so an ordinary person wouldn’t even be able to see this destruction,” says another resident of Sertolovo, Alena. “I was two kilometers from the explosion, everyone who was with me in the market at that moment shuddered. The smell of gunpowder even reached us! Half an hour later, an ambulance and police rushed in that direction. The Ministry of Emergency Situations will also rescue someone else from under the rubble.
In a building with an area of 15 by 50 square meters, the second and third floors collapsed along with the attic, writes 78.ru. The risk of further collapse remains.
The telegram channel " Mash on the Moika " reports that the only wounded person who was pulled out from under the rubble alive "escaped with bruises and refused hospitalization." Later information appeared that the survivor had a closed head injury, a concussion and an open head wound.
Doctors, units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Leningrad Regional Fire and Rescue Service are working on the spot. The rubble will be cleared using heavy equipment to lift concrete slabs, regional rescuers say.
"All three burned"
Military unit No. 71717 is part of the 56th Guards District Training Center of the Leningrad Military District, where they train junior specialists for motorized rifle troops. The main base is located in the city of Sertolovo-2, Leningrad region, with additional facilities in Garbolovo. The part functions as a training center.
Earlier, the Leningrad Frontier State Fund reported on the construction of part of a training facility on the territory for the training and advanced training of volunteers. Here they train to become drone operators and anti-drone defense specialists. “The center will allow each serviceman to gain knowledge in several military professions, including the newest ones - drone operator and anti-drone defense specialist, before being sent to a combat zone, thereby providing the Ministry of Defense with qualified reinforcements, and military personnel with survival skills and effective combat against the enemy,” the website says.
According to state channels, at the training ground in Sertolovo, contract soldiers of the Ministry of Defense regularly undergo training before they are sent “to the Northern Military District zone” (as the Russian authorities and media call the war in Ukraine. - SR) .
Sabotage and negligence - these versions appeared immediately after the tragedy. Towards evening, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under articles of the Criminal Code punishing violation of fire safety requirements and negligence, due to which the death of two or more persons occurred. Those found guilty face up to seven years in prison.
Residents of the Leningrad region write in comments to Governor Drozdenko’s post that unit No. 71717 “has a bad reputation for explosions.”
“I have a 19-year-old relative who died in this unit just two weeks ago. And there is no investigation into his death! The mother cannot recover from the shock to connect. But all the other relatives are fighting, drawing up petitions , writing complaints, but not investigating anything. On February 3, an explosion occurred in the tank where Egor (Egor Dmitrievich Zuikov) and two other conscripts were sitting. All three burned. What exactly detonated there? Nobody still knows. Unofficially, the relatives of one of the guys say: the ammunition detonated - an artillery shell for a tank gun. Why? Unknown. How do they store ammunition there that they are exploding left and right? – says the relative of the deceased Sergei. – Before leaving, Yegor told us that he was going to an exercise, to a training ground. And then a call from the mother from the unit: “Your son died.” He's only been in the army for three months. He was called up on November 10th.
The relatives of the deceased Zuikov ask that he be posthumously awarded the Suvorov Medal, since “this step will not only honor the memory, but will also serve as an example for all young people in Russia about the importance of serving their country.”
In the summer of 2025, environmentalists accused the management of this part of illegally disposing of waste from subway construction. Activists found out that one of the contractors operated a fake contract for waste disposal, and transported waste from the mine, including to the Ministry of Defense site. Later, the military prosecutor's office confirmed the violations and the investigation materials were sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Vsevolozhsk district of the Leningrad region.
Explosion in the military commandant's office in the Leningrad region. What is known