City blocks of Severodonetsk LUHANSK, June 18 on the color from the explosion of tanks with nitric acid,» said the Ambassador of the LPR in Russia, Rodion Miroshnik.
"Explosion in the area of Severodonetsk or a suburb! The smoky mushroom is clearly of chemical origin", he wrote in his Telegram channel.
He illustrated his message with a video of local media. The Azot chemical plant is located in Severodonetsk. Now the territory of the plant is controlled by Ukrainian armed formations. As the head of the LPR, Leonid Pasechnik, said in an interview with RIA Novosti, up to a thousand Ukrainian nationalists are on Azot. In addition, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the LPR, foreign mercenaries are hiding there — from the USA, Great Britain and Poland. During the liberation of Severodonetsk, the Russian army and allied forces of the LPR blocked the militants of Ukrainian nationalist battalions on the territory of the enterprise. Since February 24, Russia has been conducting a special military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» The armed forces strike only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops. The main goal of the operation in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.