More than 30,000 people have been evacuated after a blaze ripped through an ammunition depot in Ukraine in what Kiev authorities called an act of "sabotage".

More than 30,000 people have been evacuated after a blaze ripped through an ammunition depot in Ukraine in what Kiev authorities called an act of "sabotage".

The blaze at a military base near Kalynivka in the Vinnytsa region, about 180km southwest of Kiev, is the second massive explosion at a weapons storage site this year. Footage showed pillars of flame and mushroom clouds curling above the base as explosions occurred every few seconds. Rockets could be seen launching at random into the skies around the base.

Authorities said yesterday morning that two people had been injured.

Volodymyr Groysman, the Ukrainian prime minister, flew to the scene overnight on the instructions of Petro Poroshenko, the president.

"This is the arsenal of the Ukrainian army, and I think it was no accident that it was destroyed," Mr Groysman said in televised remarks.

The Ukrainian army said on its Facebook page the fire began at about 10pm local time on Tuesday.

About 100 conscript soldiers were evacuated.

Photos showed several houses and vehicles destroyed.

The arms depot was one of the largest in Ukraine, and housed thousands of artillery shells, bullets, and rockets.

It follows a similar explosion that killed one person at a site in Balakliya, in the eastern Kharkiv region, in March.

The government blamed that incident on Russia or the separatist forces it arms and supplies in the neighbouring Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Indo Sport</s>A powerful explosion is seen in the ammunition depot at a military base in Kalynivka, Ukraine early Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017. Ukrainian officials say they have evacuated more than 30,000 people. (Credit: Efrem Lukatsky)

KALYNIVKA, Ukraine (AP) — A huge fire at an ammunition depot in central Ukraine has set off a series of explosions and prompted an evacuation of thousands of people, officials said Wednesday. The prime minister hinted it was possible sabotage by Ukraine's enemies.

Authorities evacuated 30,000 people from the town of Kalynivka, 190 kilometers (120 miles) southwest of the capital, Kiev, and turned off the electricity and gas supply after the depot at a military base there caught fire late on Tuesday.

The powerful explosions late Tuesday created massive fireballs that lit up the night sky. Hours later, smoke was seen billowing Wednesday morning. Four residential buildings were damaged by fire but no casualties have been reported.

Local media reported that about 188,000 tons of munitions were kept at the depot including rockets for the Grad multiple grenade launchers.

Andriy Ageyev, spokesman of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, told the 112 television station that munitions at the military base in Kalynivka were still detonating at the military base late Wednesday morning. But Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, who arrived to the area early Wednesday, said on local television the situation is under control.

Olena Gitlyanska, spokesman for the Ukrainian Security Service, told the Unian news agency that they are treating the fire as sabotage. She didn't provide further details.

Speaking at an urgent session of the Cabinet, Groysman on Wednesday also suggested it was possible sabotage, saying that Ukraine is at war and that its expects that its enemies "will do all they can to make us weak."

Government forces have been fighting Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine since April 2014 in a conflict that has left more than 10,000 killed and displaced more than a million.

President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday morning called for an urgent meeting of the country's top brass to discuss the situation.

In a similar incident in March, a fire at a military depot in Ukraine's east raged for hours and prompted an evacuation of over 20,000 people.</s>Massive explosions and a blaze at a military ammunition depot in central Ukraine have forced authorities to evacuate 24,000 people and close airspace over the region, officials have said.

The blasts occurred late on Tuesday local time at a military base near Kalynivka in the Vynnytsya region, 270 kilometres west of Kiev, Ukrainian emergencies service said in a statement.

One person was injured, it said.

The military said rescue teams were evacuating nearby villages in the region.

Arriving in the region hours later, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said “external factors” were behind the incident.

Social media users reported hearing loud explosions as far away as the capital Kiev.

Local media said the explosion was the fourth ammunition depot explosion in the past two years.</s>Massive explosions and a blaze at a military ammunition depot in central Ukraine have forced authorities to evacuate 30,000 people and close airspace over the region, officials have said.

The blasts occurred late on Tuesday local time at a military base near Kalynivka in the Vynnytsya region, 270 kilometres west of Kiev, Ukrainian emergencies service said in a statement.

Four residential buildings were damaged by the fire and one person was injured, but no casualties had been reported.

The military said rescue teams were evacuating nearby villages in the region, bussing more than 30,000 people out of the area.

Arriving in the region hours later, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said "external factors" were behind the incident.

Authorities said they turned off the electricity and gas supply to the town.

Social media users reported hearing loud explosions as far away as the capital Kiev.

Local media said the explosion was the fourth ammunition depot explosion in the past two years.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.</s>Smoke and flames rise over a warehouse storing ammunition for multiple rocket launcher systems at a military base in the town of Kalynivka in Vinnytsia region, Ukraine September 27, 2017. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

KIEV (Reuters) - Massive explosions and a blaze at a military ammunition depot in central Ukraine forced authorities to evacuate 24,000 people and close airspace over the region, officials said on Wednesday.

The blasts occurred late on Tuesday at a military base near Kalynivka in the Vynnytsya region, 270 kilometers (168 miles) west of Kiev, Ukrainian emergencies service said in a statement.

One person was injured, it said.

Arriving in the region hours later, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said "external factors" were behind the incident.</s>A pro-European integration protester installs a Ukrainian national emblem atop a metal base belonging to a destroyed Christmas tree, during a rally in the Independence Square in Kiev, December 16, 2013. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukraine’s president could secure loans from Russia on Tuesday when he meets Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin - money that could help fend off economic crisis as anti-government protests continue in Kiev.

Demonstrators demanding that Viktor Yanukovich step down after he spurned a trade and investment deal with the European Union last month plan a new show of force in Ukraine’s capital on Tuesday as the president meets his Russian counterpart.

Caught between Western powers, keen to anchor the nation of 46 million in a friendly embrace on the EU’s borders, and Moscow, which accuses the West of turning its former Soviet territories against it, Ukraine is in the grip of impending financial crisis that could hit fuel supplies this winter.

President Putin, who meets Yanukovich at 3 p.m. (1100 GMT), seems set to agree a loan deal, and possibly offer Ukraine a discount on the Russian natural gas on which its people depend.

“The situation in Ukraine is now such that without loans, from one side or another, they will simply fail to maintain economic stability,” Andrei Belousov, an economic adviser to Putin, told Interfax news agency. “I do not rule out that, if there is a request, a credit could be provided.”

Russia’s Finance Ministry confirmed talks on a loan were under way. Ukraine’s dollar bond prices rallied and debt insurance costs fell as concerns receded that Kiev would become unable to pay its creditors.

Ukraine’s energy minister said a deal was also very probable on lower prices for Russian gas.

Despite snow and freezing temperatures, Yanukovich’s opponents mustered 200,000 people in Kiev on Sunday to call for his removal and for a free trade pact with the European Union, which Yanukovich rejected last month after threats from Russia to cut off gas supplies and block Ukrainian imports.

They have called for a new demonstration on Tuesday.

Many of those protesting say they fear greater influence from the Kremlin, which exerted oppressive power over Ukrainians during the Soviet period, and see closer ties with the 28-nation EU offering greater freedoms and prosperity.

Many are also complaining about Yanukovich’s record as he prepares to campaign for re-election in just over a year. Opponents, backed by EU leaders, accuse him of manipulating the judicial system to keep opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko in jail. Ukrainians also begrudge widespread corruption.

Agreement on Tuesday would also be seen in Moscow as a triumph for Putin keeping Ukraine in Russia’s political and economic orbit more than two decades after the Soviet Union collapsed, and preventing a historic westward shift by Kiev.

Underlying the East-West tug-of-war, Sweden’s foreign minister, Carl Bildt, accused Moscow on Monday of trying to woo Kiev with propaganda and “sometimes outright lies”.

His Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, meeting EU foreign ministers in Brussels, took a veiled swipe at the bloc by criticizing “external intervention” in Ukraine.

Ukraine is seeking help to cover an external funding gap of $17 billion next year - almost the level of the central bank’s depleted currency reserves.

Putin aide Belousov did not say how much Russia, whose own economy is stuttering badly, would be ready to offer Ukraine. But sources in Ukraine said the deal could be worth $15 billion, with Russian providing about $3-5 billion up front.

The most Brussels has so far offered Ukraine is 610 million euros ($838 million) but EU officials are in discussion with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and other financial institutions on ways to help Ukraine.

Apart from loans, Ukraine is seeking a lower price for Russian gas - now at around $400 per 1,000 cubic meters - to help it cope with its debt burden.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov says he hopes a deal on cheaper gas prices will soon be concluded. A reduction of at least 10-15 percent is likely, sources in Kiev said.

Tuesday’s talks are intended to conclude a “substantial package” of agreements to chart out a road map to removing trade barriers for Ukraine with Russia, both sides say.

Yanukovich is seeking the best deal possible for Ukraine but playing East against West is a hazardous maneuver running the risk of alienating both parties and there is no certainty Ukraine can avoid default or a currency crisis.

Putin regards Ukraine as vital to creating a political and economic union stretching from the Pacific to the EU’s borders. But Yanukovich is not expected to sign Ukraine up for a Russia-led customs union which Putin sees as the basis for this.

Holding out on membership of the customs union could be Yanukovich’s last bargaining chip as he tries to survive the protests in Kiev and win a presidential election in 2015.</s>KIEV, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Massive explosions and a blaze at a military ammunition depot in central Ukraine forced authorities to evacuate 24,000 people and close airspace over the region, officials said on Wednesday.

The blasts occurred late on Tuesday at a military base near Kalynivka in the Vynnytsya region, 270 kilometres (168 miles) west of Kiev, Ukrainian emergencies service said in a statement.

One person was injured, it said.

Arriving in the region hours later, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said "external factors" were behind the incident. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)</s>YOU JUST SAW:

A woman and her pet dog wait for evacuation in the town of Kalynivka 20 kilometers (13 miles) from the site of the ammunition depot blast, west of Kiev, Ukraine Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017. More than 30,000 residents have been evacuated after ammunitio</s>KIEV, Ukraine — One of the Ukrainian Army’s largest ammunition depots caught fire overnight after what was probably an act of sabotage using a drone, an official said on Wednesday, setting off gigantic explosions and forcing the evacuation of about 30,000 people.

Like a lethal fireworks display, rocket artillery and tank shells flew out of the depot in all directions, tracing glowing arcs through the night sky and illustrating — if a drone is indeed to blame — the growing role of the devices in combat.

The blasts, in the town of Vinnytsya, about 160 miles southwest of Kiev, posed a serious danger to air traffic, passing trains and nearby communities.

The depot holds about 200,000 tons of ammunition, the Ukrainian authorities said, and although it was unclear how much was at risk, the firepower was on clear display. As warehouses blew up, gigantic, apocalyptic fireballs rose high above the site.</s>One of Ukraine’s largest arms depots caught fire and exploded in what prosecutors said Wednesday was a likely act of “sabotage” that forced the evacuation of more than 30,000 people.

It was the second major incident affecting a large Ukrainian weapons warehouse this year.

The Ukraine military prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation into “sabotage at a military facility” in the central Vinnytsia region.

“We have to learn to defend our strategic facilities from sabotage groups,” President Petro Poroshenko said during an emergency evening meeting of his top military commanders.

“Are their any other versions?” he asked in comments issued by his office.

The pro-Western leader’s statement hinted strongly at possible involvement by Russia or separatist militias in eastern Ukraine.

But Poroshenko made no direct mention of the Kremlin and added only vaguely that “we will no longer put up with these events.

Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman also seemed to imply Kremlin involvement in the explosions, which shook the town of Kalynivka, about 175 km (110 miles) southwest of Kiev.

“This is the arsenal of the Ukrainian army, and I think it was no accident that it was destroyed,” Groysman said from the scene of the blasts.

Initial reports mentioned no fatalities and only two minor injuries from the raging explosions of heavy munitions and air defense missiles at the site.

The Vinnytsia regional administration more than doubled the military’s initial estimate of the amount of munitions stored in the depot to 188,000 tons.

General staff spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov told AFP that the arms storage warehouse was “one of the country’s largest.

Kalynivka’s 20,000 residents largely kept off the streets as missiles and shells shot off in all directions and shattered parts of people’s homes.

“Some homes had their windows and doors completely blown out,” she said.

The defense ministry reported that the various shells and missiles had ceased exploding and the situation had been brought under control by Wednesday night.

The Ukrainian army’s high command wrote on Facebook that the fire broke out at around 10:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) Tuesday.

The flames caused artillery shells at the warehouse to explode one after the other in harrowing orange balls of fire that lit up the night sky and shook the ground.

The national police said more than 30,000 people had been evacuated from areas in the immediate vicinity of the depot.

“In addition, 180 patients were evacuated from Vinnytsia area hospitals,” Ukraine’s emergency ministry said.

Officials also shut down surrounding airspace as a precaution to prevent exploding missiles from hitting passing commercial jets.

In March, a major arms warehouse explosion killed one person in the eastern town of Balakliya.

At the time Kiev authorities pointed the finger at Moscow and Russian-backed militias fighting Ukrainian troops in a war which broke out in April 2014 and has claimed more than 10,000 lives.

Some officials in Kiev then mooted the possibility that the March fire was caused by explosives dropped from a drone.

Both Moscow and the Russian-backed insurgents dismissed the charge outright, brushing it off as propaganda.

Vinnytsia lies nearly 700 km west of the war zone.

Russia vehemently denies plotting and backing Ukraine’s eastern conflict and refers to the fighting as a “civil war” — a term that particularly irritates Kiev.
Thirty thousand people are evacuated from Kalynivka, Ukraine, following an explosion in an ammunition dump 180 kilometres (110 mi) southwest of Kiev. The Government of Ukraine blames sabotage.