Kiev blames “raiders” for explosions in Svatovo

Explosions at arms depots in Svatovo broke out due to “raiders’ activities,” Stepan Poltorak, Ukraine’s Defense Minister said at a meeting of the Council for Reform, Friday, on October 30.

“The reasons of the incident are being examined at the moment,” he said.

By preliminary data, he said, the reason of the explosions was “the adversary’s subversive actions with the goal to destabilize the situation in the region.” 20 de-mining groups comprising nearly 100 people embarked on demining the affected territory.  “No new fire areas are observed,” Poltorak said.

The people’s militia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic, in turn, says they are not related to the Svatovo fire. “We are not engaged in any aggressive activity and observe the ‘peace regime.’ We do not explode any milk factories and depots in Svatovo,” LuganskInformCetner quotes Deputy Head of Staff of the Corps of the LPR People's Militia Igor Yashchenko as saying. 

EADaily reported earlier that fire broke out at the arms depot in Svatovo (territory of Lugansk region under control of Kiev) at about 7:30pm (8:30pm Moscow time) on Thursday. About 3.5 thousand tons of supplies for the rocket launchers Grad, Uragan, and Smerch were stored at the depot. The fire caught nearly 9,000 sq m  of the depot territory. By official data, two were killed and 38 residential buildings were destroyed.