Moscow - There should be no fears over chemical releases into the air after the shelling of a military factory in Donetsk, said Andrey Purgin, the first deputy premier of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).
“Early reports suggest that warehouses with the most hazardous chemicals and agents were not affected. Though a significant part of the plant came under fire, I think we will be able to avoid releases of chemical substances into the atmosphere,” Purgin told Interfax on Monday evening, Oct. 20.
A source in the DPR defense ministry said that “the plant has been producing mainly (artillery) shells recently.” Nevertheless, “chemical agents have remained at its warehouses,” including ammonite (an explosive mixture), he said. The DPR representative also expressed fears that the plume from the explosion could cover Donetsk. “Everything depends on which agents exactly were at the demolished warehouses,” he said.
