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> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A series of explosions could be seen at the dump throughout Wednesday night

Some 20,000 people are being evacuated after a series of explosions at a massive arms depot in eastern Ukraine described by officials as sabotage.

The base in Balakliya, near Kharkiv, is around 100km (60 miles) from fighting against Russian-backed separatists.

The dump is used to store thousands of tonnes of ammunition including missiles and artillery weapons.

Rescue teams are overseeing a huge evacuation effort for people living in the city and nearby villages.

The total area of the dump spans more than 350 hectares, the military says.

Everyone within a 10km (6 miles) radius of the dump is being evacuated, the Interfax news agency quoted an aide to President Petro Poroshenko as saying.

Munitions from the depot are used to supply military units in the conflict zone in nearby Luhansk and Donetsk, reports say.

Image copyright EPA Image caption A huge cloud of smoke could be seen billowing above the ammunition depot of the Ukrainian armed forces on Thursday

Image copyright DSNS Image caption By daylight smoke billowed across the sky in Balakliya

The authorities are investigating various ways the explosions may have been caused, Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak said, including the possibility of an explosive device being dropped from a drone.

A new, bloody chapter

Russia accused of terrorism and discrimination at ICJ

Nationalist blockade threatens economy and severs ties with east

Light shone on Ukrainian tragedy

A drone was reported to have been used an earlier attempt to set the facility on fire in December 2015.

Mr Poltorak said that there were no reports that civilians or serviceman had been killed or injured in the latest incident and that airspace had been closed within a 50km (31 miles) radius of Balakliya.

More than 9,700 people have died in the conflict which erupted in 2014 when Russia annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula. Pro-Russian rebels later launched an insurgency in the east. </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> 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> 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> 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> 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> The Ukrainian military said unknown saboteurs blew up a warehouse storing tank ammunition at a military base in the east of the country early on Thursday.

The base, which contained about 138,000 tonnes of ammunition including rockets and tank ammunition, is located in the city of Balakleya about 100 km (60 miles) from the frontline of Ukraine's war against Russian-backed separatists.

Rescue teams were helping residents nearby villages in the eastern Kharkiv region, the military said, and up to 20,000 were evacuated.

Ukraine's chief military prosecutor Anatoly Matios said: 'According to preliminary data, as a result of sabotage, last night at 2.46am, fire and explosions caused the detonation of ammunition at several sites storing rockets and artillery weapons.'

Military spokesman Oleksander Motuzyanyk said security around other bases was being beefed up.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman was due to fly to the area later on Thursday, but nobody is thought to have been hurt in the incident.

Saboteurs previously tried to destroy the same base using drones in 2015, another military spokesman, Yuzef Venskovich, told the 112 TV channel.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict between Ukraine and the separatist rebels since 2014. </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.
A series of explosions on a military base near the Ukrainian city of Balakliya forces thousands to be evacuated from their homes.