This was shortly before the tank explosion. On the telephone, the mayor of Severodonetsk, Olexandre Struk, expressed his concern: the Azot factory, a gigantic chemical site, shut down for three weeks, is targeted by Russian strikes. “An explosion of ammonia would be dangerous for everyone, aggressors and defenders… The chemical cloud could cause massive pollution for miles. It’s in nobody’s interest. If that happens, may God protect us“, he confided on the phone.
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The city, administrative center of the Luhansk region for the Ukrainian authorities has been the epicenter for several days of fierce fighting between the Russian and Ukrainian armies: 90% of the city is destroyedaccording the governor of the region but the resistance still holds. It was in this area that the French journalist Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff died on Monday May 30. The Ukrainian authorities fear that the city will suffer the same fate as Mariupol. Civilians are taking refuge in the shelters of a huge factory, targeted by the Russian strikes, except that the Azot factory is not a steelworks, like Azovstal, but a chemical factory.
A few minutes later, Ukrainian soldiers on duty near the factory which employed 30,000 people before the Russian invasion, post videos, in particular on TikTok. They report a thick cloud of orange smoke rising into the sky. And some worry about whether they should protect themselves. Quickly, the governor of the region announced it: it was a nitric acid tank that was affected. This was quickly confirmed by the mayor of Severodonetsk. “For the Russians, it doesn’t matter whether people survive or not… Their goal is to take the territory. They can ruin everything to own this territory“, don’t get angry Olexander Struk.
The inhabitants are called upon to remain hidden: “Don’t leave the shelters” and “prepare face masks soaked in soda solution“, wrote the governor on Telegram. Nitric acid can in particular cause damage to the lungs or loss of vision. In the form of gas, it is “suffocating, irritating even corrosive” when inhaled, and can also affect skin or eyes. Before hanging up his phone, the mayor of the city says that 800 civilians, factory workers and their families, took refuge in the shelters on the site.