The Ukrainian emergency services have rescued several trapped victims from shelled storage facility in an airport.

The State Emergency Service (SES) of Ukraine said yesterday: “On 6th March at about 1.35pm near the village of Havryshivka in Vinnytsia district, as a result of rocket fire, a fire broke out in a fuel and storage depot with an area of about 1,000 square meters and partially destroyed the administrative building.

“As of 2.35pm, 4 people were rescued from under rubble, 1 of them died. The work continues. 111 people and 21 units are involved from the SES.”

In an update, the SES said: “At 3.34pm, the fire at the warehouse of PMM in the village of Gavrishivka in Vinnytsia district was extinguished over an area of 1,000 square metres.

“Search and rescue work on the partially destroyed building is ongoing. 113 people and 23 units are involved.”

In an update this morning (7th March), the SES said: “Fifteen people have been freed from the collapsed structure at Vinnytsia Airport. Nine of them were killed (five civilians, four military) and search operations are ongoing.”

The SES said 143 men and 23 units of special equipment were being used in the emergency and rescue operation, including 30 students from the Lviv State University of Life Safety in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) said they have taken control of a Ukrainian military base with tanks, ammo and equipment in the Kherson region.

The MoD said on 6th March: “The Ukrainian military left their positions in a hurry, leaving the base with equipment, weapons and ammunition. The base was located on an area of six to seven hectares. Among the trophies found are Ukrainian T-64 and T-80 tanks, armoured personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, and Ural (general purpose) vehicles.

“A few metres from the car park is a large hangar housing an ammunition depot with mines, anti-tank guided missiles, mortar and tank shells, over 4,500 tons of ammunition. Some of the weapons stored on the street are rocket projectiles for multiple rocket launchers.”

The Russian MoD said the facility was probably used to train soldiers as well as house around 4,000 personnel: “Mortar ammunition and high-explosive fragmentation shells were also nearby. Presumably, various units were trained here – marines, sappers, signalmen, tankers and gunners.”