Munitions worth more than $2B destroyed by fire at ammo dumps over 2.5 years, MP Pashynskyi says
As reported by a correspondent for Censor.NET, this was said by Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense, Serhii Pashynskyi while speaking at the coordination board.
"I want to recall that last year we had [explosions at arms depots in] Balaklia, Kalynivka. After that, the parliamentary committee on national security and defense developed a comprehensive manual saying what needs to be done to prevent this from happening again. It was passed to the leadership of the Defense Ministry, the General Staff. And, regrettably, I have to officially inform you that nothing has been done over a year. We cannot protect our ammunition by constantly repeating the mantra that we are going to join NATO and there is need to meet NATO standards. I officially inform you that ammunition worth more than $2 billion has been destroyed over the past two and a half years starting with Svatove and ending with Ichnia. I officially inform you that this budget-2019 alone envisages more than 5 billion hryvnia for subsidies to our agrarian tycoons-billionaires," he said.
In this regard, Pashynskyi convenes a meeting of the National Security and Defense Committee tomorrow.
"Once again I’d like to address the society and the parliament and all the factions: the existing irregularities in the storage of ammunition can no longer be tolerable. It is necessary to fundamentally change the ammunition storage system, chain of command because now the General Staff is in charge of storing the ammunition and it bears full responsibility for it. But evidence suggests that it is unable to cope with this task. We need to get these issues under the clear control of the parliament and solve them," Pashynskyi stressed.
As reported, an explosion rocked the support area of the 6th arms depot near the town of Ichnia, the Chernihiv region, around 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 9 setting it on fire. The corresponding security measures were introduced all across the Chernihiv region.
The State Emergency Service reported at least 10,000 locals being evacuated from the danger zone.
The prosecutor's office opened criminal proceedings over negligence. The pre-trial investigation was entrusted to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) directorate in the Chernihiv region.
According to the SBU, there are three theories behind the causes of the accident, with the major one being an act of sabotage committed by a subversive group. Two others are the violation of the rules for fire safety or storage of ammunition, and deliberate arson or detonation in order to conceal the lack of ammunition.
The fire at the ammunition storage facility near Ichnia was completely extinguished on Oct. 10.
