No casualties reported in fire at Kharkiv region ammo depots - Poltorak

10:17, 23.03.2017 1 min read

No casualties have been tentatively reported as a result of a fire and explosions of ammunition at the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's artillery depots near the town of Balaklia in the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said.

"Preliminary reports indicate that there are no fatalities among servicemen and the civilian population," Poltorak said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

It has also been preliminarily concluded that the fire and the subsequent ammunition explosions at the depots could have been caused by an act of sabotage, he said.

"One of the theories suggests that it was an act of sabotage, including the dropping of an explosive device from a drone," Poltorak said.

The fire is still covering about one-third of the depot's area, he said.