Ukraine’s chief military prosecutor Anatoliy Matios has noted a very weak intensity of the use of funds allocated by the Cabinet of Ministers for the maintenance of ammunition depots in Kalynivka, Vinnytsya region, before the fire broke out there.
According to him, after the fire at military depots in Balakliya, Kharkiv region, in the spring of 2017 the National Security and Defense Council and the Cabinet of Ministers approved the decision transferring over Hr 16 million from the reserve fund to the accounts of the military base in Kalynivka.
“As of the day of the incident [in Kalynivka], the Cabinet of Ministers has allocated over Hr 16 million specifically for this base through the reserve fund and the Defense Ministry. These funds were in the accounts of the military unit and were targeted specifically for measures to improve the security of hazardous storage facilities of the military reserve of the Armed Forces. These are data on this base of military unit No. 1119. The money has come every month since April. The largest tranche of funds from the Cabinet of Ministers through the Defense Ministry came a month ago, in the amount of Hr 11.5 million. Only Hr 2 million has currently been used,” Matios said at a briefing in Odesa on Sept. 28.
“The intensity of the use of funds for fire safety and other measures was very slow. A total of Hr 25 million was allocated for this base this year alone,” he added.
He said that the facility was guarded by old people who were paid very low wages and had a low motivation for work. Matios noted that “with a strong desire,” using the funds allocated by the government, it was possible not only to significantly increase the salaries of security guards, but also to change the system of posts and bring the perimeter of the base into order by putting up fences so that wild animals could not enter its territory.
