Errant missile hits apartment building near Kyiv (04/30/00)

Errant missile hits apartment building near Kyiv

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - An errant missile fired from a Ukrainian military training ground hit an apartment complex in the city of Brovary, just outside Kyiv, on April 20 killing three residents, injuring five others and leaving 91 people homeless.

The surface-to-surface missile, of the 9M-79 class, was launched from the Honcharivskyi firing range during a routine training session of the Rocket Brigade of the Northern Operations Command and was supposed to travel 60 kilometers (40 miles) to its target at the Desnianskyi firing range. Due to a yet undetermined mechanical failure, it failed to descend and traveled another 30 kilometers (20 miles) before dropping on the apartment building. The powerful missile has a range of 120 kilometers.

Initially, Ukrainian armed forces officials denied responsibility for the destruction of the building and said the missile had hit its intended mark. They maintained, at least for the first day, that a crater found about 25 meters from the target was evidence that the missile had not gone off course. The military began an investigation only after civilians found a metal plate from the missile with its serial number intact inside the destroyed building.

At a press conference four days after the incident Minister of Defense Oleksander Kuzmuk officially apologized for the accident.

"I would like to express my condolences to the relatives and offer my apologies to all the injured and to those who suffered emotional trauma and material losses from this tragedy," said Gen. Kuzmuk.

While stating that he holds ultimate responsibility for the tragedy, Gen. Kuzmuk vehemently rejected the possibility of human error and laid the blame on mechanical failure.

President Leonid Kuchma defended Gen. Kuzmuk and the Ukrainian army at a public appearance the same day. He said the tragedy does not reflect the state of the armed forces but rather the need to replace and modernize military equipment that is nearing the end of its operating life.

Army officials are currently investigating several possible causes of the accident, including a failure of the control system and hydro-drive operations; de-pressurization of high-pressure pipelines and computer failure.

The 6.4-meter, 18-ton training missile, which was not carrying an explosive warhead but did contain fuel, entered the nine-story building vertically from the roof at 3:09 p.m. and bored down through the floors to the second story. Residents of the building said that, rather than causing an explosion, the entering projectile made an initial sound more akin to a television tube bursting, according to the newspaper Den.

Others said it was more like an earthquake. One unidentified couple, residents of the fifth floor, told Den: "There was a strong impact, but not like an explosion, more like a tremor. We jumped onto the balcony, but could not see anything. Everything was blocked by a large white cloud of dust."

Three individuals - two women and a man - died immediately, while five others were transported to a nearby hospital where three were reported to be in satisfactory condition. The other two were released after receiving minor medical attention.

Ukrainian officials reacted quickly to the accident and by that evening had announced that all the inhabitants of the building had been relocated and given temporary shelter elsewhere. They said the building would be rebuilt and residents given the opportunity to either move back into their apartments or obtain new living accommodations elsewhere.

The missile, also known as a Tochka-U, which went out of production last year, had been produced in Ukraine since 1985 and has a working life of 10 years. Army officials said the ill-fated missile had received regular two-year check-ups and had not exceeded its operating life.

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In an unrelated event, a Ukrainian cruise liner carrying passengers on a Black Sea cruise from Turkey to Ukraine was struck by a missile of the Russian Black Sea Fleet on April 24 after it unknowingly entered waters designated for missile training exercises.

A Progress missile launched from the Black Sea Fleet's coastal rocket complex on Cape Khersones, near Sevastopol, hit the cruise ship Vereschagin broadside above the water line, seriously injuring one sailor.

Russian Black Sea officials strongly disavowed any responsibility for the accident the day after the incident and said they had maintained all internal and Ukrainian safety requirements in securing the target field. Ukrainian officials have confirmed that the Vereschagin captain had inadvertently drifted into the restricted area.

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