Fire fighters putting out a fire that occurred after an explosion on the premises of the Interior Ministry's State Scientific and Research Expert-Criminalistic Center in Kyiv on Aug. 19, 2023. (Photo: Ihor Klymenko / Telegram)
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported on Aug. 19 that an explosion occurred on the premises of the Interior Ministry's State Scientific and Research Expert-Criminalistic Center in Kyiv's western suburb.
Klymenko clarified that the cause of the explosion is not due to a drone or missile strike.
Experts on the scene were conducting an examination of explosive objects when the explosion occurred. As a result, a fire broke out in one of the storage facilities on the premises.
Klymenko also wrote that some employees were injured by the incident, but he did not specify how many.
We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.
U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks come after the Financial Times (FT) reported, citing undisclosed sources, that he asked President Volodymyr Zelensky whether Kyiv could strike Moscow or St Petersburg if provided with long-range U.S. weapons.
Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center's (AntAC) executive board and current member of the country's Armed Forces, was charged on July 11 with evading military service and fraud — an accusation he and his team reject.
"The stolen data includes confidential questionnaires of the company's employees, and most importantly, full technical documentation on the production of drones, which was handed over to the relevant specialists of the Ukrainian Defense Forces," a source in Ukraine's military intelligence told the Kyiv Independent.
Following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Beijing on July 15, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that mutual trust between the two countries had "deepened" and called on both sides to "strengthen mutual support on multilateral forums."
The chief executive of Euroclear told the FT that the EU's proposal would amount to "expropriation" — forced seizure — because if Russia demands the assets back in the future, they would not be available.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called upon the EU to take action against Ukraine's conscription practices in an interview with Origo published on July 15, amid an ongoing dispute with Kyiv over the death of a Ukrainian conscript of Hungarian ethnicity.
"This statement from the U.S. president is quite serious. Some of what he said appears to be addressed personally to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
According to the SBU, Russian "special services" recruited the 27-year-old Lviv resident who was trying to obtain "easy money" through Telegram channels.
The facility reportedly manufactures batteries for missile guidance and glider modules, including for the Iskander system and cruise missiles, which Russia has been increasingly using to target Ukrainian cities.
Kate Tsurkan
