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Railway explosion occurs in Ukraine’s southern city of Odessa

No casualties have been reported

© ITAR-TASS/Zurab Dzhavakhadze

KIEV, May 13. /TASS/. A strong explosion occurred in the south of Ukraine overnight - the incident took place on the railway stretch of the Black Sea resort city of Odessa. A crater with the depth of about one metre formed from the blast, the press service of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry reported on Wednesday. No casualties have been reported. Police are investigating at the scene.

"The explosion occurred at 1310 km of the Odessa - Peresyp - Odessa - Zastava-2 section at 23:55pm [Tuesday]. The blast damaged 60 cm of rail, 90 cm of a ferro-concrete sleeper and caused a funnel-shaped crater with the diameter of 80 cm and depth of 90 cm," the ministry said in a statement.

On Tuesday, the Interior Ministry department for the Odessa region reported that an explosive device was defused near a gas pipeline at the Agricultural Machinery Plant.

A series of explosions occurred outside buildings that house organisations that help participants in the security operation in Donbass (Donetsk and Lugansk regions) in December last year and in January-March this year. Law enforcement agencies all incidents categorized as acts of terrorism.

Early on March 5, an explosion roared in the vicinity of the Odessa office of the Right Sector radical movement, which has been classified as an extremist organization in Russia. On March 12, a bomb went off outside a business centre that housed the local branch of the Samopomosch (Self Help) party. An explosion occurred on March 29 near the building of a volunteer organisation in the centre of Odessa.

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