You're reading: Exploding shells rock Russian military test site

MOSCOW — A series of explosions has rocked a Russian military test site, releasing giant clouds of smoke over Orenburg near the Kazakhstan border and causing aftershocks.

Orenburg Gov. Yuri Berg wrote on his blog on
Tuesday that the three explosions were caused by unplanned shell
detonations. He says emergency services saw no potential harm to local
residents.

The Emergency Situations Ministry says the shells exploded while being unloaded from a supply train.

Twitter
users reported that police closed roads leaving Orenburg and evacuated
residents from central buildings and nearby villages as a precautionary
measure.

Russian military equipment, which frequently dates back
to the Soviet era, has exploded unexpectedly several times at test sites
in recent years. President Vladimir Putin has pledged to overhaul and
modernize the country’s stagnant defense industry.