Residents are using a bucket of water to put out a fire after several rockets hit a residential area of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on Sunday. Credit … Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
BAKHMUT, Ukraine – Residents frantically fought several house fires Sunday evening in the eastern city of Bakhmut after Russian troops fired incendiary ammunition in their neighborhood, Ukrainian officials said.
Following the attack, while residents collected empty jars and small black cylindrical capsules used in the attack, Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the military civilian administration in Donetsk province, said Russian forces had used weapons incendiary.
Bakhmut, in Donetsk Oblast, is an important military stronghold for Ukraine. Less than 10 miles from the Russian lines, it is a likely target for Russia’s planned advance through the eastern Donbas region and has become accustomed to almost daily bombing. But Sunday’s strike was something less familiar, residents said, at least in a civilian area of the city.
In the middle of a rain of explosions around 5 pm, an arc of fireballs exploded over the city and descended like flares in a fireworks display. Within minutes, black smoke came out of the neighborhood as roadsides, vegetation and houses caught fire.
Neighbors in shorts and sandals frantically threw their garden hoses toward a burning house. They threw buckets of water against the flames as the beams and tile roof of a house cracked and exploded.
Neighbors had left town weeks ago and there was no one inside, they said. At least seven houses and a large stretch of vegetation were burned.
A house was surrounded by flames after a strike in Bakhmut on Sunday. Credit … Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
A retired miner, Viktor, 67, was watching from his home across the street. “I worked in the mines for 20 years and that’s what I have,” he said, then turned around, crying. Like many neighbors, he was reluctant to give his last name in time of war.
Police officers and off-duty soldiers arrived in small cars to help. They carried buckets of water, their arms and hands blackened to fight another fire in the street.
“It’s the first time we’ve had this in the civilian part of Bakhmut,” said Katerina, 31, a social worker. His neighbor, 17-year-old Olesia, said they were used to the sound of multiple rocket launchers, known here as Grads.
“We’ve heard Grads and Mortars before, but that sounded different,” he said. “It was a light sound, like shoosh, shoosh, shoosh.”
Ukrainian officials said Russia had used incendiary weapons, which are primarily designed to set fire to objects or cause burn injuries, and are used by the military around the world, including those in Russia and Ukraine. Its use is limited although it is not prohibited by international law.
When residents retrieved the containers and capsules from their gardens and streets, one of the soldiers said the rockets fired and advised residents to cover the capsules with sand and not use water to empty them.
“We have them on the front line all the time,” he said. “Now they have it here.” He did not give his name, according to military protocol.
Kamila Hrabchuk contributed to the report.