An ammunition dump was on fire near a town in the east Ukrainian region of Kharkiv today and some military personnel were evacuated from the area, the Emergencies Ministry and Defence Ministry said.
"A fire broke out in the military depot near the town of Lozovaya, we are taking steps to localise the blaze, the size of which we are checking," said a Defence Ministry spokesman.
The Defence Ministry said no one had been killed and military families had been evacuated from the area.
An Emergencies Ministry spokeswoman said the situation was "very serious" and other people were also being evacuated.
The fire first broke out in a nearby forest, where high winds prevented the fire services from extinguishing it, and swept into the ammunition dump, the Defence Ministry said.
Ukrainian news agencies quoted the police as saying the fire struck a suburb of Lozovaya where about 64,000 people live.
There have been several explosions and fires in Ukrainian arms depots in recent years. In May last year, an explosion at a depot in southern Ukraine killed two people during an operation to make ageing munitions safe.