A large stockpile of surplus ammunition burned uncontrollably after fire-fighters failed to extinguish a forest fire in the Kharkiv region of the Ukraine on 27 August.

Over 5000 residents were forced to evacuate the suburb of Lozovaya, the district capital and rail hub of the region. All passenger trains were suspended and military and rescue personnel were rushed to the area in an attempt to contain the explosions that continued for five days. An investigation began on 4 September and so far there have been no reported casualties

This latest incident is the most recent in a series of lapses in Ukrainian stockpile management. In 2005 a fire broke out at an arms depot at Novobogdanovka in southwestern Ukraine and in 2004 four people were killed and over 300 wounded in explosions in ammunition-loaded railroad cars at a munitions storage site near Melitopol.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union the Ukraine has struggled to decommission large stockpiles of inherited ammunition and other hazardous materials. In 2006 the NATO/Partnership for Peace Trust Fund Project began decommissioning 133 thousand tons of conventional ammunition, 1.5 million surplus SALW and one thousand man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS).

During 2008, a UN Group of Governmental Experts discussed ammunition surpluses. Their report is expected before the start of the First Committee of the UN general Assembly in October.