A drone carrying a grenade infiltrated an ammunition dump in Ukraine, setting off an explosion that caused an astounding billion dollars worth of damage. The incident points to the growing use of drones in wartime, particularly off the shelf civilian products harnessed to conduct sabotage and other attacks.

Ukraine's domestic intelligence service, the SBU, believes that a drone carrying a Russian thermite hand grenade caused a series of titanic explosions at Balakliya, a military base in Eastern Ukraine. Amateur video of the incident posted on YouTube shows a raging fire spewing out of control artillery rockets, and an explosion and shockwave that sent civilians nearby reeling.

One person was killed in the attack and five were injured.

The drone is believed to have carried a ZMG-1 thermite grenade. Thermite, a combination of iron oxide (rust) and aluminum powder. The stuff burns extremely hot and easily could have gotten through wooden crates to detonate the munitions inside. The ammo dump is just 60 miles from the Russian/Ukrainian border, where fighting recently took place.

According to PM contributor David Hambling writing at Scout Warrior, it's not the first time military bases in Ukraine have been hit by drones. A similar attempt to blow up the Balakliya base took place in December 2015, when drones dropped 14 grenades. The fires were extinguished by Ukrainian servicemen, and one grenade, a ZMG-1, was recovered.

In October 2015, an attack on an ammunition depot at Svatovo destroyed 3,000 tons of explosives and damaged 1,700 nearby homes. Two other attacks on ammo dumps took place in February, and another facility was attacked in March.

Guerrilla groups, terrorists, and perhaps even governments worldwide have rapidly weaponized consumer drones, effectively turning hobbyist devices into lethal weapons capable of killing. In 2016, two French Special Forces soldiers were injured and two Kurdish fighters were killed by an exploding ISIS drone. ISIS has conducted numerous drone attacks during the Mosul campaign and terrorism experts fear weaponized drones could spread outside conflict zones.

Source: Global Guerrillas </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> 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.

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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> NIEUWEGEIN, Netherlands — Dutch-led criminal investigators said Wednesday they have solid evidence that a Malaysian jet was shot down in 2014 by a Buk missile that was moved into eastern Ukraine from Russia.

Wilbert Paulissen, head of the Central Crime Investigation department of the Dutch National Police, said communications intercepts showed that pro-Moscow rebels had called for deployment of the mobile surface-to-air weapon and reported its arrival on July 17, 2014, in rebel-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine.

The deadly surface-to-air weapon that blasted Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 out of the sky that same day at 33,000 feet, killing all 298 people aboard, was launched from farmland in the rebel-held area of Pervomaiskiy, 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne, the investigation found.

Witnesses there reported an explosion and a whistling sound and a patch of field was set on fire.

From that and other evidence collected by the Joint Investigation Team, "it may be concluded MH17 was shot down by a 9M38 missile launched by a Buk, brought in from the territory of the Russian Federation, and that after launch was subsequently returned to the Russian Federation," Paulissen told a news conference Wednesday in the Dutch town of Nieuwegein.

The conclusions of the investigative unit - which includes police and prosecutors from the Netherlands, Ukraine, Belgium, Australia and Malaysia - were consistent with previous reporting by The Associated Press, which established soon after MH17's destruction that a tracked Buk M-1 launcher with four SA-11 surface-to-air missiles had been sighted the same day in the rebel-controlled town of Snizhne near Pervomaiskiy.

A separate investigation by Dutch safety officials last year concluded that the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur flight was downed by a Buk missile fired from territory in Ukraine held by pro-Russian rebels.

Dutch police spokesman Thomas Aling said the joint investigation findings differ in that they are designed to be solid enough to be used as evidence in a criminal trial. Where and when a trial might take place is still to be determined, Aling said.

"The next question, of course, is who was responsible for this," Dutch chief prosecutor Fred Westerbeke said. He said investigators have identified 100 people they want to speak to who are believed to have been involved in the transport of the Buk launcher or its use.

Moscow officials have consistently denied allegations that pro-Kremlin rebels in eastern Ukraine were responsible for downing the passenger plane. The Russian Foreign Ministry reacted quickly to the release of the international investigation's findings, calling the probe "biased and politically motivated."

The Dutch-led investigation ignored evidence offered by Russia and allowed Ukraine to manipulate the evidence and shape anti-Russian conclusions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov also denied that Russian air defense missile systems ever have been sent to Ukraine.

"Russian missile defense systems, including Buk, have never crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border," Konashenkov said.

Earlier this week, the Russian military said that newly found data from radar in southern Russia showed that the missile that downed the Malaysia Airlines jet did not originate in rebel-controlled territory. It said it would turn that data over to investigators.

The Russian maker of the Buk air defense missile system also contested the conclusions of the Dutch-led investigation.

Mikhail Malyshevsky, an adviser to the director of the state-controlled Almaz-Antei consortium, said Wednesday that an analysis of the plane's shrapnel-ridden fragments show that it couldn't have been downed by a missile launched from a rebel-controlled area in eastern Ukraine.

Malyshevsky said the missile likely came from an area that Russian officials have previously described as Ukraine-controlled.

Ukrainian officials countered that the Dutch-led team's findings prove Russia's complicity in the tragedy.

"It is proved that the Buk had come into our territory from Russian territory," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said. "After the crime, when terrorists tried to cover up traces, the Buk was immediately taken back to Russia. Thus, we have solid proof of who to blame for this dreadful crime and who bears full responsibility for the terrorist attack."

Police and judicial officials from five countries on the Joint Investigation Team have been working together to gather the best possible evidence for use in prosecution of the perpetrators.

They have faced extraordinary challenges. The crime scene in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk oblast region where the plane was brought down on July 17, 2014, was located in an active war zone. During the days following the downing, pro-Kremlin militants limited access to the crash site.

Eleven containers crammed with debris from the jetliner were ultimately brought to the Netherlands. A research team took soil samples in eastern Ukraine and established the location of cellphone towers and the layout of the local telephone network to verify intercepted phone calls from the militants.

Forensic samples were taken from passengers' and crew members' bodies and luggage, and satellite data and communications intercepts were scrutinized. The team also appealed for information from witnesses who may have seen the missile launch.

About two-thirds of the passengers aboard MH17 were Dutch nationals; the crew members were Malaysians. Malaysia proposed setting up an international tribunal to try those responsible for the plane's destruction, but Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution in favor of a tribunal.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby hailed the investigators' report as "another step toward bringing to justice those responsible for this outrageous attack."

Associated Press Writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this story. </s> Chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Vasyl Hrytsak has said that law enforcers have detained a suspect in a terrorist attack committed in Kyiv in October 2017, in which two people were killed and three more, including Ukrainian MP Ihor Mosiychuk, were injured.

"Just a few days ago, we detained one of those who took part in organizing and committing this terrorist attack... I can say that we have solved this terrorist attack in cooperation with the prosecutor's office," Hrytsak said in Odesa on Tuesday, April 3.

He specified that one person had been detained and that two more were "in another territory, we understand where they are."

According to Hrytsak, during the searches law enforcers had seized several kilograms of TNT, an RPG-26 grenade launcher, grenades, other items and documents that could point to the person's involvement in committing this crime.

"I do not want to disclose the details," he said, adding that a briefing on this crime will be held in the near future.

As reported, two people were killed and three more, including Radical Party MP Ihor Mosiychuk and political analyst Bala, were injured in an explosion outside the building of the Espresso TV channel late on October 25, 2017. Both of them were hospitalized and underwent surgery. Those who were killed are two police officers - Mosiychuk's security guard, Ruslan Kushnir, who died on his way to hospital, and 36-year-old local resident Mykhailo Mormil.

The explosion was qualified as a terrorist attack. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is overseeing the investigation.

Mosiychuk said late in February 2018 that several terror suspects were in Chechnya and that the perpetrators of the crime had been identified. </s> Vasyl Hrytsak, the head of the SBU intelligence agency, told a news conference in Kiev that eight members of the Russian group had been detained and charged in connection with the assassination plot. Ukraine's chief military prosecutor Anatoly Matios said two of the hit squad members were staff officers of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency. He said the other six were Ukrainian nationals.

There was no immediate reaction from Russia's GRU. The SBU has reported before that it captured groups belonging to Russian special agencies. Mr Matios said: "Those detained were involved in the attempted murder of an employee of the Ukrainian defence ministry's intelligence service in Kiev in April.” He said the group had planted a bomb beneath the intended target’s car which had gone off prematurely, badly injuring one of the accused.

The SBU released a video of the same incident which showed a man placing the bomb under a car before a big explosion. The video showed a man lying in a hospital bed with part of his right arm missing saying he was Russian and born in Moscow. The issue of how to deal with Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014 and backs pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, is prominent ahead of Sunday’s vote, with President Petro Poroshenko casting himself as the commander-in-chief Ukraine needs to defend the country. The GRU is thought to be behind the attempted murder of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in a nerve agent attack in Salisbury in March 2018.

Both survived the attempt on their lives but four months later Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after coming into contact with an item contaminated with novichok in Amesbury, Wilts. Her partner Charlie Rowley, 45, also fell seriously ill after being exposed to the nerve agent, but survived. A GRU unit was arrested by Dutch agents last April as they attempted to hack into the computer systems of the the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) headquarters in The Hague. The OPCW was investigating both the use of chemical weapons in Syria and the Salisbury nerve agent attack. </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> 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 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.
Ukraine's domestic intelligence service, the SBU, reports that the March 2017 explosions at Balakliia military base in Eastern Ukraine were caused by a drone carrying a ZMG-1 thermite grenade. The explosions resulted in 1 death and 5 injuries.