OREANDA-NEWS. The two servicemen died during the destruction of ammunition in the depot of the Central Artillery Base of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the city of Balakliia (Kharkiv Region). This was reported on the website of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Four soldiers were injured and were hospitalized. According to official data, three of them are acute patients, one is in a state of moderate severity.

According to the Ministry of Defense, the military men carried out the utilization of ammunition, destroying them in a specially equipped ditch “in the prescribed manner”.

“Nothing threatens local residents and infrastructure. The ammunition storage facilities are safe,” the representatives of the Ministry of Defense assured.

In March 2017, a large fire broke out at the ammunition depot near Balakliia, a fire led to the explosion of tank and artillery shells, hundreds of buildings, including residential houses, were damaged. Five people were injured, one woman died under the debris. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense Serhiy Pashinsky estimated the cost of the munitions destroyed in the fire at 1 billion US dollars. The Chief Military Prosecutor of Ukraine Anatoly Matios called the cause of the fire at the ammunition depot in Balakliia an act of sabotage.

In 2018, another fire occurred at the military depot in Balakliia, and shells began to explode. In Kiev, the incident was explained by the fact that during the work for the purpose of mine clearance of territory, dry grass caught fire in the arsenal. Nobody died.