One of the largest ammunition depots on fire in Russia: video
22 April 23:00
A large-scale fire broke out at the large 51st arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Defense Ministry near the village of Barsovo, Kirzhatsky District, Vladimir Region (about 530 kilometers from the nearest section of the state border controlled by Ukraine) after a powerful explosion. This is reported by local Telegram channels, "Komersant Ukrainian" informs
A district emergency has been declared in the Kirzhatsky district. Evacuations are underway from areas of possible damage in the event of an ammunition detonation.
The military facility located east of Moscow has an area of about 3.5 square kilometers and, according to some reports, can store about 274 thousand tons of ammunition. It includes both fortified bunkers for storing ammunition and open storage areas for unloading/loading weapons. The latter are vulnerable to UAV strikes and could cause an explosive chain reaction.
Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, noted that Russia detonated at 51 arsenals of the Russian State Armed Forces, which store approximately 105,000 tons of weapons.
“There are significant stocks of artillery shells of various types of missiles, including Iskander, Tochka-U, Kinzhal, ammunition for Pantsyr-S1, S-300, S-400, as well as Grad, Smerch, Uragan,” the statement said.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the fire and detonation of ammunition on the territory of a military unit in the Vladimir region.
According to the ministry, this happened as a result of a “fire” due to a violation of safety regulations.
Crews from the military unit and the Ministry of Emergency Situations were engaged to extinguish the fire.
