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649th Aviation Depot, Grushevitsa, Khmelnytsky district

The 649th air missile and ammunition depot of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (military unit A3013, is located in Gruzevytsia village, Khmelnytsky district, Khmelnytsky region). The area played a major role with the 19th Rocket Division and 43rd Rocket Army which held SS-19 silos nearby that were dismantled in the 1990s. It is one of five ammo disposal centers in Ukraine, specific for "Air Force armaments and ammunition and ammunition containing TNT".

Intelschizo@OSINTMISCIF noted "It appears their main task is babysitting the depot making sure nothing is stolen so basic site security, since it was a common issue in the '90s and early 2000s, scrappers would take old munitions from decommissioned sites in the area." Soviet era storage site of SS-19 fuel/parts and aviation munitions from 1949 was destroyed. This was not a new ammo depot this was another target of little military value like Pavlohrad Chemical Plant." The Khmelnytskyi garrison, as well as the Pervomayskyi district, were part of the 43rd Missile Army.

But even after the destruction of the missile infrastructure, when Khmelnitsky ceased to be the most explosive place on Earth, no one is in a hurry to give the palm of the powder keg of the planet to anyone. Today it was said to be one of the highest concentrations of conventional explosives in Europe, though precisely why remains a bit obscure.

Russia’s massive strike on Ukraine’s Khmelnitsky ammo depot led to the appearance of a huge "mushroom cloud" explosion rising into the sky. It was called by some the largest of the entire war thus far. Imagery from Planet Labs confirmed the attack on Khmelnytskyi, which was carried out in the morning of 13 May 2023. The powerful explosion in Khmelnytsky, as a result of which a fireball rose into the sky, occurred at the base of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, where advanced weapons were stored for the counteroffensive, The War Zone columnist Tyler Rogoway wrote 14 May 2023. “New weapons may have been stored there that were used to fuel the war effort. Latest satellite imagery shows an ammunition and explosives depot west of the Ukrainian city of Khmelnytsky has been literally razed to the ground,” the article said. Rogoway called the extent of the destruction of the vault impressive: the base had a width of 0.8 kilometers.

Argumenty i Fakty reported "the blow fell on the territory of the Kation plant. This enterprise, founded in the late 1960s, was engaged in the production of Soviet industrial electronics, including defense ones. Like many other similar enterprises, during the years of Ukraine's independence, Kation found itself in a difficult situation. The territory of the plant was leased to tenants, and in 2022 it began to be used for storing ammunition."

Russian Military correspondent Dmitry Steshin wrote in his Telegram channel: “The cost of this is approximately 200-220 million euros. There were ammunition for the Leopards and Marders, satellite communications systems and lots and lots of high-tech stuff from Germany, the USA, Denmark and for some reason Japan (did they give a little? Yes? A little?). The warehouse was skillfully hidden from our intelligence, even on commercial satellites it was not visible. They didn't save it."

Pro-Russian commentator Rybar wrote: "They have shaken the earth's firmament. Yesterday's massive strike on the Khmelnytskyi warehouses is shaking the ground. Our sources say that the 649th aviation depot of missile weapons and ammunition in the village of Hrushevitsya stored a significant number of anti-aircraft missiles for Western-made SAMs - including those for Patriot SAMs. According to the earthquake monitoring system of the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, tremors of 3.4 magnitude were felt northwest of Khmelnytskyy at 04.52 Moscow time. This fact indicates that the impact on the depots was very effective - the secondary detonation of the weapons caused seismological activity in the earth's crust." Remarkable that the claimed spike in radiation came prior to the Russian attack that destroyed the facility.

Russian Political scientist Yuriy Kot wrote: “My acquaintances from Ukraine reported that the Westerners are panicking. They collect belongings and scratch away from Khmelnitsky, and from Lviv and Ternopil. From everywhere where there are Ukrainian military units, warehouses, repair shops. And my sources confirm this."

Panic reports were spreading in Ukrainian social networks that during the detonation of an ammunition depot in Khmelnytsky, a large batch of British tank ammunition with depleted uranium, which was recently brought to Ukraine along with Storm Shadow missiles, was also destroyed. As a result of a huge explosion, particles of depleted uranium could be dispersed on the territory of the Khmelnytsky region, which, taking into account the experience of Yugoslavia and Iraq, could lead to an outbreak of cancer in the medium term.

Pravda reported 15 May 2023 "According to media reports and messages posted on social media, the amount of radioactive dust in the Ukrainian city of Khmelnitsky has increased considerably. People post messages about a noticeable increase in alpha and gamma radiation. Kyiv denies such reports, but people post photos and videos with their dosimeters.

"According to "Every Day News" project, there are only two options to explain what is happening in the city now: The recent explosion has destroyed depleted uranium shells at the ammunition depot in Khmelnitsky (in Kyiv this was called a gas station explosion). A nuclear bomb was damaged as a result of the explosion of the warehouse. It may go about either a nuclear ammo that was supposedly delivered to the Armed Forces of Ukraine or the infamous dirty bomb.

""I don't know whether there were depleted uranium shells in the destroyed ammunition depot in Khmelnitsky. However, as long as our government does not say anything on the topic, I would recommend that local residents evacuate children from there,” Ihor Mosiychuk, a former radical-right Ukrainian MP said.""

One RUMINT report claimed "Further Khmelnitsky Depleted Uranium Update. Excellent research by Gleb Georgievich Gerasimov. A clear spike in gamma radiation was detected in Khmelnitsky on or about May 12th, with emission continuing to rise the following day and remaining at the elevated level thereafter. Considering how little gamma radiation comes from depleted uranium, this clear spike in gamma radiation in Khmelnitsky indicates that there was very large stockpile of the DU munitions that was destroyed, raising the uranium dust into the air.""

On 13 May 2023, in the morning in Khmelnytskyi, a series of explosions rang out during the air raid warning. A wave of 21 attack drones were fired at the city, according to reports. "Unfortunately, not all drones were destroyed that night – 17 out of 21 UAVs. There were four hits in Khmelnytskyi region," said Yuriy Ihnat, spokesman for the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the attack had destroyed an ammunition depot and hangar at the Starokostiantyniv airbase in Khmelnytskyi [the two are not co-located]].

For the first time, a loud explosion rang out around 4:15 a.m. Soon, the Khmelnytskyi Regional Military Administration was informed about the explosions in the territory of the region. Mayor Oleksandr Simchyshyn also confirmed the information about the explosions in Khmelnytskyi region, urging citizens to stay in shelters. Already after the announcement of the air-raid warning, Oleksandr Simchyshyn warned the residents of Khmelnytskyi that the sounds of explosions may still be heard for some time. "As a result of the explosive waves, educational institutions, medical institutions, administrative buildings, industrial facilities, multi-story and individual residential buildings were damaged in Khmelnytskyi," he notes. - There are injured and injured residents of the community. The number is being specified."

Hundreds of high-rise buildings, hundreds of private houses, dozens of educational institutions, cultural facilities and much more were damaged. The number of injured as a result of the shelling approached 30. Houses in several neighborhoods of the city were damaged by an explosive wave. According to the director of the city's infrastructure department, Vasyl Novachak, windows and roofs of residential and non-residential premises suffered the most destruction. In order to speed up the process of restoring damaged property, the city council developed several options that will help residents get help faster. On the first day more than 800 applications were received from citizens whose houses were damaged. Glass will be issued at 90 Shukhevicha Street (Ploskyriv) from 9 a.m.; Volochyska Street (Railway Hospital). Materials would also be issued in Malashivtsi, Mackivtsi, Sharovechka, Oleshyn, Cherepova and Ivankivtsi (the exact time and location will be provided by the district head).

Depleted uranium (DU) is the material left after most of the highly radioactive form of uranium (U-235) is removed from the natural uranium ore. In the 1970s, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) began making bullets and mortar shells out of DU given its high density. DU was also used to create armor for tanks and as weights to balance aircrafts. In sufficient amounts, uranium that is ingested or inhaled can be harmful because of its chemical toxicity. Like the natural uranium ore, DU is radioactive. DU mainly emits alpha particle radiation. The biological effects of gamma-radiation arise from the direct or indirect interaction between secondary electrons and the DNA of living cells. The radiation dose to the tissue immediately surrounding DU particles arising from the inherent radioactivity of uranium is complemented by an enhancement in the radiation dose received from the natural background gamma-radiation. In 2005 Busby estimated that this dose enhancement is of the order of a factor of 500–1000 or more. In 2010 John E. Pattison et al concclued that "although the dose enhancement is significant, of the order of 1–10, it is considerably smaller than that suggested previously."

Viral video of the huge explosion near the city of Khmelnytskyi in Western Ukraine were shared widely along with unverified claims that a "depleted uranium" storage facility was hit and "reports" that radiation levels were "rising" in the aftermath of the strike. Photos distributed online were identified as the work of the Ukrainians in extinguishing the fire. The use of robots for this purpose was very impressive. It is their presence that raises some questions in us. What exactly was in that warehouse? Why do robots put out fires? Did it mean that Ukraine has received another type of weapon that has not been mentioned in the media or official government announcements so far? Some sources, with a high degree of certainty, report that the recent Russian strike on a military target in Khmelnytskyi hit a very large stockpile of depleted uranium ammunition officially supplied to Ukraine by Great Britain, and unofficially by other Western actors.

Ukraine reportedly deployed robots 15 May 2023 to extinguish a fire at an ammunition depot in Ternopil, western Ukraine, which contained a stockpile of depleted uranium shells provided by Britain. The arrival of Russian missiles destroyed the depot and explosions from depleted uranium shells caused radiation levels to rise, according to former member of Ukrainian parliament, Igor Moseychuk. State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported "The robot assistant of our rescuers is not the first to prove its effectiveness. With its help, the rescuers managed to eliminate the consequences of enemy attacks in Ternopil Oblast and Khmelnytskyi Oblast. With the help of the control panel, the operator is at a safe distance from the robot and the center of the fire. The fires have now been extinguished. Thank you to everyone for their work", Serhiy Kruk, Head of the State Emergency Service, commented on the situation, making no mention of uranium.

Dr. Chris Busby, physical chemist and scientific secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk, said: "We see videos on the internet of the Ukrainians clearing up the explosion site using Robot vehicles, not ordinary firemen. Why do they need Robot vehicles? The last times we saw Robot vehicles clearing up was in the ruins of Chernobyl and Fukushima.... Uranium 238, when it decays with its alpha emission, turns into Thorium-234 and Protoactinium-234m which then turns into Uranium 234. Thorium 234 is a beta and gamma emitter delivering 6% of its decay energy as a gamma ray. Thus, large clouds of DU particulate aerosol will be detectable by gamma detectors."

The photographs identified as Khmelnytskyi were in fact the photos of the Ternopil fire. The photographs depict smoldering rubble inside heaviliy constructed multi-story buildings. There were no such big buildings at Khmelnytskyi before the 15 May 2023 blast, and certainly no such buildings after the blast.

The mushroom cloud is a symbol of war and unstoppable military technology. Perhaps inevitably the mushroom cloud over Hiroshima is a reality people can't forget. During the initial minutes after a nuclear detonation above ground level, the most prominent feature is the development of a convective cloud, made visible mainly by dust and weapon debris particles and in some cases water condensation. When a nuclear device is exploded, a large fireball is created. Everything inside of this fireball vaporizes, including soil and water, and is carried upwards. This creates the mushroom cloud that popularly associated with a nuclear blast, detonation, or explosion. The first nuclear test in 1945 created a blinding flash of light, a thunderous sound, and a mushroom cloud 38,000 feet tall.

On 15 October 2023 an explosion sent a plume of smoke 7000 feet into the air. wth a mushroom cloud was created. The source was a bunker loaded with explosives and leased by Explo Systems Inc., which exploded in the L-1 area toward the central eastern part of Camp Minden. The yield of the August 4th, 2020 Beirut chemical explosion is estimated to be approximately 1.4 kilotons with a lower bound of 0.7 kilotons, though visual evidence of a maximum cloud height (1600 m) is much less than predicted by standard cloud rise models.

Almost any large detonation above the ground produces an almost instantaneous release of energy in a confined volume of air, resulting in a high temperature and low density perturbation of the atmosphere. This fireball, which is vertically accelerated by buoyancy forces, develops recirculating flows akin to those present in vortex rings. The vorticity in the ring tends to be contained in a torus with a cross section that is small compared to the ring radius. The main features of the flow can be described in terms of a buoyant vortex ring. It also entrains air at such a fast rate that after a short transient its speed of ascent decreases monotonically with time, and the resulting cloud eventually reaches a stabilization height.