Balakliia


Balakliia or Balakleya is a city in Kharkiv Oblast of eastern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Balakliyskyi Raion, and is an important railroad junction in the oblast. Population:

2017 explosions

On 23 March 2017, 20,000 inhabitants of Balakliia were evacuated after a series of massive explosions erupted at a nearby arms depot of the Balakliya military installation, which stockpiles missile and artillery ammunition. The disaster led to one civilian woman killed and five others injured. Thousands of residents within a 10 km radius around the complex were evacuated in the aftermath. By the end of March, the fires and resulting arms explosions at the ammunition depot in Balakliia had damaged almost 250 buildings. On 18 April the city and nearby villages where declared cleared from unexploded.
On 3 May 2018 ignition of dry grass lead to a new series of explosions at the depot. But this time without military or civilian casualties; but 1,500 locals were evacuated.

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