KYIV. Sept 1 (Interfax-AVN) - No explosions have been heard since Saturday morning at the 61st arsenal of the Ukrainian Land Forces' southern command near the town of Lozovaya in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, and the decision has been made to start clean-up work along the arsenal's perimeter.
Earlier reports said that a fire broke out in the arms depot at the Lozovaya garrison on August 27, triggering off chaotic detonation of the ammunition at two sites where 120-millimeter mines were stored.
A fire tank is now pouring water on sectors filled with smoke and on smoldering material along the 6-kilometer inside perimeter of the arsenal. Three more fire tanks will join the effort in about two hours.
Seventy sappers of the 12 mobile field-engineering groups started clearing the 5-kilometer zone and the arsenal's administrative territory on Saturday morning.
A fire engine train will power water today on the arch ammunition storage facilities and on the adjacent territory on the border of the arsenal's technical territory. Bulldozers will clear a way to a water reservoir on the arsenal's premises.
Twenty-six checkpoints manned by interior troops and personnel of the 25th Dnipropetrovsk airborne brigade have been set up to bar the affected area from unauthorized and evacuated persons.
The Ukrainian Military Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal inquiry into the incident on military negligence charges.