Ammunition depot on fire in Crimea

An ammunition depot caught fire in Crimea, Mash Telegram channel said.

The incident occurred at a training ground in the Kirovsky district near the village of Alekseevka. Local residents said that they could hear explosions five kilometres from the fire site for two hours. No one was hurt, but this information will have to be specified later.

The head of the Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, confirmed the fact of the fire in his Telegram channel.

The reasons for the incident remain unknown.

According to Aksyonov, residents of four settlements — more than 2,000 people — are to be evacuated from the hazardous zone. All specialised services are working on the site of the fire.

There is no danger to residential buildings.

Ukraine's reports on ammo depot fire fake

It was later reported that the head of Ukraine's intelligence service Kirill Budanov claimed responsibility for blowing up ammo depots in Crimea. Such messages appeared in many Ukrainian media. It later turned out, however, that the reports about Budanov's statements about explosions in Crimea referred to a fake channel that published posts on Budanov's behalf.

The released statement said that he was taking responsibility for blowing up the warehouses and thanked the locals for the information provided.