A large explosion rocked the Ukrainian region of Donetsk on Sunday night, and it was captured in several videos that were uploaded on YouTube.
UPDATE: According to Russian state-run broadcaster RT.com, “a dropped cigarette butt” caused the blast at a chemical factory, said Ukraine army’s Anti-Terrorist Operation spokesman, Andrey Lysenko.
The plant is said to produce chemical materials for explosions, artillery bombs, and ammunition. The factory has been targeted before, as it was hammered with artillery rockets in November and September of last year.
“The fire has been contained. There is not threat of chemical spill… Most likely it was a high-caliber artillery shell,” an official from the Donetsk People’s Republic told the broadcaster.
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The blast–recorded on Sunday night–wasn’t a “tactical nuclear weapon,” as claimed by some, but it was likely caused by artillery fire or possibly Tochka ballistic missiles. Ukrainian news site TSN.ua, citing, nationalist politician Dmitry Yarosh, claimed the blast killed around “200 terrorists.”
Here’s several Donetsk explosion videos on YouTube:
“@meneame_net: Impresionante explosión en Donetsk https://t.co/eWDpOLcH3h pic.twitter.com/rjpDMmn6a6“@juancarlospinov
— quincallarota (@quincallarota6) February 9, 2015
Еще одно видео http://t.co/8Nqvo1SdvH pic.twitter.com/D9l8MeMvtZ
— ЄВРОМАЙДАН (@euromaidan) February 8, 2015
ДОНЕЦК Мощнейший, мать его, ВЗРЫВ! 08.02.2015 (ВИДЕО) ⇢ http://t.co/WSEEsJg1Cn pic.twitter.com/ot2ubFCwMh
— MilitaryMaps (@MilitaryMaps) February 8, 2015
A ridiculously large explosion in #Donetsk just now https://t.co/U9DCFmjA0x (via @TomekMaciejczuk) pic.twitter.com/CCEhJnMbyx
— Exen (@Exen) February 8, 2015
A spokesperson with the rebel Donetsk People’s Republic told NahNews.ua that it was likely a missile that caused the blast, but he didn’t rule out the possibility of a factory explosion.
“There was a mushroom cloud over Donetsk,” one of the rebels told Ukrainian news website ZN.ua, and he added that “dozens of homes were left without windows.”
Early reports say it was a a Ukrainian army artillery attack that hit a weapons depot used by the Donetsk People’s Republic.
