Ukrainian Munition Depots Fire Destroys $800 Million worth Weapons

Weapons worth $800 million at the Ukrainian munition depots in central Vinnitsa region were destroyed due to fire.

"Today, munitions worth approximately $800 million have been destroyed by fire in Kalinovka. Therefore, suppose we speak that nothing has happened and say that tank ammunition had not been needed there since they would have been recycled… And in this case, we should have sold them and received $800 million in hryvnia equivalent in the budget," Ivan Vinnik, a secretary of the Ukrainian parliament’s committee on national security and defense was quoted as saying by Tass Wednesday.

"At least 30% have been destroyed… Taking into regard, that the depot stored 60,000 tonnes, we derive the cost of ($800 mln)," Vinnik said.

The defense ministry said that 70% of the munitions had been unaffected by the fire.

According to the Ukrainian police, the munitions detonated at nearly 10 p.m. local time (19:00 p.m. GMT) on Tuesday. Early on Wednesday, the Ukrainian aviation authority closed airspace in a radius of 31 miles from the burning buildings.

Ukroboronprom has deployed a special fire-fighting armored vehicle, the GPM-72 to help put out the fire.

The GPM-72 is equipped with a fire fighting reservoir with a capacity of 20 tons, a modern fire pump and a mount, allowing extinguishing at the distance of up to 100 meters, a Ukroboronprom release said.