A warehouse in which ammonium nitrate was stored was hit by a Russian strike in the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine, regional authorities announced on Monday (May 16).
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: what fate for the regions under Russian control?
“
The explosion in the Kharkiv region does not pose a threat to the local population,
” the governor of the neighboring Donetsk region assured on his Telegram page, accompanying his message with a photograph showing an impressive cloud of orange smoke s rising above the fields.
"
A Russian shell hit a warehouse on the territory of the Kharkiv region, where, according to preliminary information, ammonium nitrate was stored
," he said, adding that "
the column of smoke could frighten but there is no reason to panic
”.
Ammonium nitrate, the cause of the devastating explosions that ravaged the port and a large part of Beirut in August 2020, is mainly used as a "
nitrogen
" fertilizer but is also used for the manufacture of explosives.
Ukraine announced on Monday that its forces had pushed back Russian troops in the Kharkiv region and regained control of part of the border with Russia.