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Two Sappers Killed in Explosion at Ammunition Depot in Ukraine - General Staff

Several people were injured in an explosion during the liquidation of an ammunition depot in the city of Balakliya in eastern Ukraine, according to spokesman for the Ukrainian General Staff Bogdan Senik.
Sputnik

Two sappers were killed in an explosion at an ammunition depot in Ukraine earlier on Friday, the spokesman for the Ukrainian General Staff said.

"As a result [of an explosion], four people, two servicemen and two armed forces' employees, have received injuries", Senik said.

According to him, the injured received burns to soft body parts, and one of them has suffered a bone fracture. The victims have been hospitalised.

"According to updated information from an officer-on-duty at the Central Artillery Ammunition Supply Base, unfortunately, two military sappers were killed", the General Staff's press service said in a Facebook post.

The press service said that no explosions occurred at the depot after 15.13 local time (13:13 GMT).

The General Staff reported earlier that about 20 explosions had occurred at the depot in the city of Balakliya during the liquidation of the ammunition.

Over the past three years, fires at military depots have been a frequent occurrence in Ukraine. On 23 March 2017, a fire broke out in an ammunition depot in Balakliya. One person died and five more were injured. After the 2017 incident in Balakliya, the authorities decided to liquidate the ammunition in the warehouse.

In May 2017, dry grass caught fire on the territory of the same arsenal, due to which the ammunition began to explode. In September 2017, a fire occurred at an arsenal in Kalinovka in the Vinnytsia region. Almost 30,000 people were evacuated and two people were injured. In October 2018, an explosion occurred at a military warehouse in Ichna in the Chernihiv region. The authorities conducted a successful evacuation and there were no injuries.

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