Russia's Ammunition Storage Catches Fire Twice In A Week, Ukraine's Defense Ministry Quips

Illustration of a Russian army base. (Wikimedia Commons/Mil.ru)

JAKARTA - Ammunition stored in southern Russia near the border with Ukraine caught fire on Tuesday, the second incident in a week, with a local official blaming high temperatures.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region, said people near the village of Timonovo were evacuated after the ammunition started spontaneously burning. No one was hurt, he said in a statement.

Last week residents of Timonovo and Soloti, 15 km (9 miles) from Ukraine, were evacuated after a nearby ammunition storage depot caught fire.

It was not clear from Gladkov's comments whether yesterday's fire broke out in the same depot or between ammunition that had been moved.

Earlier, Gladkov blamed Ukrainian forces for a series of explosions in and around Belgorod, which is about 650 km (400 miles) south of Moscow.

Separately, Kyiv has generally denied any claim of responsibility for the explosions that occurred in Russian-occupied territory. Although, sometimes convey satire carelessness is to blame.

"In a few months we will find out whether Russian ammunition can explode due to cold weather," Ukraine's Ministry of Defense said in a tweet on Tuesday.

"The five main causes of sudden explosions in Russia are winter, spring, summer, autumn, and smoking."