After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, explosions and fires have become more frequent on the territory of Russia. Here are several cases from the last week:
On August 3rd, a fire occurred at an oxygen battery production facility in Voskresensk, Moscow Oblast, with an initial area of 200 square meters that later doubled.
On August 4th, an explosion took place at the defense plant "Votkinsky Zavod" in the Udmurt Republic, where "Iskander" missiles are manufactured.
On August 9th, a powerful explosion rocked the Zagorsk Optico-Mechanical Plant in Moscow Oblast, which produced military optics. It was reported that 54 people were injured in the incident, with five in critical condition and 12 people listed as missing.
On August 9th, a fire broke out in a military unit in Georgievsk, Stavropol Krai. The fire occurred in a storage area covering 300 square meters.
During the night of August 10th, a major fire occurred at an auto service facility in Domodedovo, Moscow Oblast, with an area of 1,000 square meters affected.
On August 9th, the Russian publication "Verstka" reported that there were 83 explosions on the territory of the Russian Federation in 2022 for various reasons. The publication, after studying data from the Russian Emergencies Ministry (EMERCOM), concluded that this is a record number of explosions in the last 10 years. As a result of these incidents, 55 people died, and another 10,647 people were injured. According to journalists, despite the fact that terrorist acts have occurred in Russia over the last 10 years, and residential buildings have collapsed due to gas leaks, the number of explosions annually did not exceed 20, and the number of victims was in the hundreds, not thousands. According to EMERCOM Russia, residential buildings, warehouses, and mines were among the locations of the explosions in 2022. The explosion on the Kerch Strait Bridge also made its way into the statistics. The most common cause of explosions in 2022 was explosive objects (bombs, rockets, mines, grenades). Explosions due to explosive objects accounted for 55 out of 83 cases. Thus, the increase in the number of explosions in 2022 is directly related to the hostilities in Ukraine.
After Putin signed a law in July 2022 giving the government extraordinary control over enterprises to support the army, requiring them to reconfigure production for military needs or work overtime if necessary, almost all of Russia's resources are directed towards continuing aggression against Ukraine. Mass conversion of enterprises for military production is accompanied by numerous violations of elementary production standards and safety regulations.
The sanctions pressure on Russia for its aggression against Ukraine demonstrates that detached from international cooperation, the Russian military-industrial complex poses a threat to Russians themselves. Examples include the crash of a Su-34 military aircraft onto a high-rise building on October 17th, 2022, in Eisk, Russia, and the explosion of an aviation bomb dropped by a Russian Su-34 military aircraft in the central part of Belgorod on April 20th.
It is also important to consider that some of the fires and explosions could be acts of sabotage, as under conditions of severe repression and dictatorship, such acts often become the only way for Russians to express their disagreement with Kremlin policies.
Source: latviatoday.info
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