23 March 2017•Update: 23 March 2017
By Diyar Guldogan
ANKARA
No casualties have been reported following an explosion at the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's artillery depot in the country’s eastern Kharkiv region, according to local media on Thursday.
Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak told reporters in comments reported by the Interfax Ukraine agency there were no fatalities among servicemen or the civilian population according to initial findings.
However, Poltorak said the explosion may have been caused by an "act of sabotage".
According to the Ukrainian State Service for Emergency Situations, blasts were recorded at the military warehouse in Balaklia city near the Russian border at 7.00 a.m. local time (0500GMT) on Thursday.
The service also said about 15,000 people had been evacuated from the area.
Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios said on social media the arsenal’s total area was 368 hectares (1.4 square miles) and contained 138,000 tons of ammunition.
Matios also claimed that it was "sabotage".
