Posted on 03/24/2017 6:07:15 AM PDT by Freeport
Ukraine's largest munitions depot literally blew up yesterday, sending mushroom clouds rising and rockets flying in every direction. Most the city of Balakliya, around 20,000 people, were told to evacuate following the initial blasts, causing a chaotic exodus including gridlock traffic as secondary explosions continued to erupt at the nearby depot. At this time, no deaths have been attributed to the ongoing incident.
There has been a six mile exclusion zone established around the depot and a 31-mile radius no fly zone above it. Ukraine has called on NATO to help them deal with the runaway disaster. The government estimates the explosions could continue for days, and currently only about a third of the depot is effected—meaning much more material could light off if the fire continues to spread.
The facility stores multiple types of ammunition, including tank shells and artillery rockets, which can cook off and fly for miles, making containing the situation extremely hazardous. Reportedly, 128,000 tons of ammo is stored at the sprawling facility.
Many in Ukraine are pointing the finger at Russia or pro-Russian operatives as the cause for the initial blast, although there has been no hard evidence yet put forward to prove such an allegation. Some sources say soldiers guarding the base heard the sound of an airplane or drone before the explosion. The installation is located about 60 miles from the fighting in eastern Ukraine and supplies Ukrainian forces fighting there with ammunition. The BBC reports that the depot had been the target of an unsuccessful drone attack back in 2015.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedrive.com ...
Sabotage.
Paging boo hoo girl ...
They’ve got that boom boom pow.
I suspect Putin is jackin’ their style.
This is going to produce better video than the Mexican fireworks factory. Popcorn time.
Black Tom redux
Actually, there are two vidios
One wonders how there was a n eye in the sky at the very start of the destruction
Eh, I’m not ruling Russia out, but the Ukrainians are a bunch clowns when it comes to safty.
I don’t blame the Russians for Hillary being a lousy candidate. This is different. I assume Russia helped the Ukraine with their munitions storage.
There was a reason there was a “No Smoking” sign posted. /s
Sabotage is possible, it could also be poor storage practices. My battalion cleaned up an Iraqi munitions dump (literally, all of it dumped in a wadi a few hours north of Baghdad) in the Spring/Summer of 2003. It took months of very careful work to remove everything from pistol ammo to artillery rounds to SAMs.
We only had one fire, which led to an exciting day, but berms and terrain helped contain the damage and nobody was hurt.
That looks like a whole lot of munitions stored in one place and so close to the fighting in eastern Ukraine. What's the west to do? Give Ukraine more stuff to be blown up, thus not meeting other military needs? Go into full-out war defending Kiev (that coup never did represent the whole country) and ignoring the terrorism and security issues in Europe?
Amazing, the way the world keeps turning. Who could've ever written a book or produced a movie as far-fetched as it's all become?
Ouch.
I hate it when that happens....................
Ooopskies!
Ooooh.....ahhhhhhh!
Big bada boom
Drone footage
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iclPotF3zsw
Oh, dear. Prayers.
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