Donetsk, May 4 – DAN. Another blaze which ripped through a military warehouse in Balaklea, Kharkov district of Ukraine, was an arson, said deputy commander of the DPR Operations Command Eduard Basurin.

"Another fire at an artillery warehouse in Balaklea is suprising. It has become the result of continious thefts of ammunition and property, lack of control over the storage and recording.

Major shorfalls of ammunition and criminal neglihence have never been eliminated after the Ministry of defence and state securitu servicve of Ukraine revealed them. Those responsible have never been punished and got away under the4 pretext of sabotur groups activity in the area," Basurin said.

The first major fire swept through the Balaklea warehouses on MArch 23, 2017. The ammunition stored there detonated, including tank and artillery rounds of 125mm and 152mm calibers, damaging 250 nearby buildings. The second blaze was reported yesterday. The incident occured on the territory of the 65th storage area where UXO clearance operation continued after the first fire. The defence ministry the reason behind the new blaze was a wildfire raging across dry grass area of 35ha. The zone is cordoned off, population evacuated.

Today Ukrainian defence agency announced another version of the blaze, saying it had been caused by a firefighting tank carrying rounds which exploded when exposed to the sun. *ot