There are no more uncontrolled explosions at the Kalynivka ammunition depot or in nearby villages, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported on Sept. 30.
“There are no uncontrolled explosions or fire on the territory of the ammunition depot but engineers are still encountering certain explosive objects in their mine trawls,” reads the statement.
The ammunition depot caught fire at about 10 p.m. on Sept. 26, and ammunition, shells and rockets soon started to explode. Located in Vinnytsya oblast, 238 kilometers southwest of Kyiv, the facility was one of the largest ammo depots in Ukraine.
More than 16 residential buildings were completely destroyed by the blasts at the ammunition depot late on Sept. 26. At least 5,000 windows were broken and hundreds of roofs of houses were damaged, officials said. Around 30,000 people were evacuated later that night from a 10-kilometer zone around the blast-stricken ammunition depot.
Bomb removal squads are still responding to requests from locals to dispose of explosive objects. Out of some 230 applications, at least 215 were addressed. During the mine clearance, the squads found some 205 shells, shattered by explosions, while an airborne firefighting squad dropped 384 tons of water from an An-32P aircraft.
The fire has since been doused.
Ukraine’s Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk said that Hr 100 million provided by the government to address the consequences of the explosions will be available starting Oct. 1. The government plans to send workers to repair property damaged in the blasts, including residential buildings, schools, and infrastructure.
Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios denied previous reports about subversive groups allegedly detained in Kalynivka.
“I would like to point out that the investigation by Ukraine’s Security Service and other law enforcement agencies did not establish that any [enemy] subversive groups were in the region,” Matios told journalists on Sept. 28.
International monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also continued to follow up on an incident in Kalynivka. At a press briefing, the head of the Vinnytsia regional state administration said that upon completion of the safety sweep on Sept. 28, approximately 30,000 evacuated residents were allowed to return.
