The recriminations for that fire have started, all from Interfax today. Always someone else.
FIRST
Responsibility for the fire at the Kalynivka ammo dump in Vinnytsia region is shared by defense officials, starting from the chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces General Staff, National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov has said.
"The country has suffered a gigantic blow since the start of the war, a blow against our defense, or defense capability… This is the responsibility, starting from the chief of the General Staff along the entire vertical [line of command], all those who answer for our country's defense," Turchynov told journalists in Kyiv on Thursday. "We have demonstrated that we are unable to defend our strategic arsenals. This gives rise to the question of the quality of our nation's defense. And until the highest officials, those who do not fulfill their functions well, answer for this we will always be counting our losses," Turchynov said.
Turchynov said after the fire at ammo dumps near Svatove conclusions were drawn and the NSDC, along with the Cabinet of Ministers and Defense Ministry, took decisions. "Unfortunately, most of these have not been carried out. And we see such consequences. Because they were not carried out those responsible will pay with their positions and legally," he said. "Responsibility is a necessity, as well as the courage to answer for something you are incapable of doing," Turchynov said.
SECOND
Fire alarms didn't work at Kalynivka arsenal, half of security equipment was missing. Chief Military Prosecutor of Ukraine Anatoliy Matios has said fire alarms were out of order at the ammunition depots near Kalynivka, Vinnytsia region, and half of technical security means was missing. "Among the faults established by investigators were non-working fire alarms and only half of the required security technical means," Matios said at a briefing in Odesa on Thursday.
He also noted that there is a problem with military security guards, whose wages are extremely low so mostly elderly people work there. According to Matios, at the time of the emergency, the arsenal was guarded only by a few anti-aircraft posts and 17 members of the militarized guard.
THIRD
Investigators are working out four basic scenarios behind the fire at an ammunition depot of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Kalynivka (Vinnytsia region), which subsequently led to artillery shells exploding, the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine has reported. "Under the leadership of the military prosecutor of the Central Region of Ukraine, urgent investigative actions and measures are being taken to solve the crime. Four basic investigative scenarios of the criminal offense are being worked out," reads the report.
The prosecutor's office recalled that in connection with the explosion of ammunition the Military Prosecutor's Office of the Central Region of Ukraine had included information in the single register of pre-trial investigations under Article 113 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (sabotage).
The pre-trial investigation in the proceedings was entrusted to the investigation department of the Ukrainian Security Service's (SBU) office in Vinnytsia region. At the same time, the Prosecutor General's Office took control of the state of the pre-trial investigation.
FOUR
It will be difficult for Ukraine to compensate for ammo losses over last 2 year. Ukraine's main military prosecutor Anatoliy Matios has said it will be exceedingly difficult for Ukraine to compensate for munitions destroyed at the Kalynivka arsenal in Vinnytsia region. "In light of exceedingly large losses of ammunition over the past two years resulting from emergency situations or as a result of sabotage, it will be very difficult for the state to compensate for the losses of ammunitions costing billions of hyrvnias," Matios said on Thursday during a briefing in Odesa.
Matios blamed the losses on the outdated system of funding and operating ammunition arsenals, which he said is the responsibility of the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces.
FIVE
Ukraine's chief military prosecutor Anatoliy Matios has said his office does not have the grants of authority to check the use of state budget funds allocated for defense, as well as military warehouses and ammunition storage facilities. "The military prosecutor's office is not empowered currently… the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) does not have the right to check [military] warehouses. Reform measures have removed the authority for us to check how budget funds are spent on defense, on the functioning of [military] warehouses, arsenals and so forth," Matios said during a briefing on Thursday.
He added that prosecutors can conduct work after incidents, but not checks to prevent them. "We can't check, but we can investigate criminal cases. Criminal cases mean losses have occurred," Matios said, adding that after November 20 the military prosecutor's office will be defunct, replaced by the State Investigations Bureau.
SIX
Ukrainian chief military prosecutor denies info on sabotage groups in Vinnytsia region where ammo depots were ablaze. No sabotage groups have been spotted in Ukraine's Vinnytsia region, where ammunition explosions began at military depots late on September 26, and no one has been detained or has escaped, Ukrainian Chief Military Prosecutor Anatoliy Matios said.
"The investigation has not recorded the presence of any sabotage groups, mentioned by Facebook and others... in the territory of Vinnytsia region. There is no information about that. Second: the investigation, which started to work an hour and a half after the explosions began, has not confirmed any information about drones... There have been no groups, about which the defense minister's advisor has spoken, no sabotage and reconnaissance groups or those who were detained or escaped," Matios said at a press briefing in Odesa on Thursday.
SEVEN
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said explosions of ammunition at the arsenal near Kalynivka, Vinnytsia region, have practically ceased, and the demining of a 5-km zone has started. "Regarding the situation in Kalynivka. The ammunition continues to smolder in the warehouses, but blasts have almost stopped," the premier wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday.
He said the residents began to return to the villages far removed from the epicenter of explosions. "In general, the situation is under control: air reconnaissance is underway to enable further use of aircraft to localize fires, minesweeping teams begin to clear a 5-kilometer zone," Groysman wrote.
EIGHT
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said that those responsible for the situation in Kalynivka in Vinnytsia region, where ammunition depots have been burning since Tuesday evening, must be held accountable. "We need a clear-cut investigation and understanding of the cause of this emergency situation. This is the arsenal of our Ukrainian troops and I believe it isn't by accident that it is being destroyed now. But we need to make sure that all those who must be responsible for this are held accountable. I believe this is absolutely a matter of principle," Groysman said at a government meeting on Wednesday.
"I remember Mariupol, I remember Balaklia. And today this is Vinnytsia. Wise men draw conclusions. Fools repeat mistakes. I think the military cabinet presided over by the commander-in-chief, the country's president, is going to meet today to analyze the situation and make appropriate conclusions," Groysman added.
As reported earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has decided to convene a meeting of his military cabinet with the participation of Groysman, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov, and chiefs of law-enforcement and defense agencies over the ongoing explosions at ammo depots in Kalynivka. The officials will attend the meeting right after their return from Vinnytsia.
FINALLY
Kyiv dismisses allegations of illegal arms shipments to South Sudan. The accusations leveled at Ukraine by Amnesty International and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an international journalistic organization, saying that Ukraine violated its international export-control obligations have no legal grounds, the Ukrainian State Service of Export Control (SSEC) said in an official statement on its website.
Ukraine is a member of all international export-control regimes and strictly adheres to their requirements and to relevant UN Security Council resolutions, the statement says.
More on this one at http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/451348.html