Киржач – the place of the explosion of ammunition. Photo: Telegram channel 112. On the eve of Victory Day, the district center of Kirzhach in the Vladimir region experienced a vivid military event – ammunition exploded at the 51st range of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, where there were storage tanks for 4286 wagons of ammunition. According to public information, shells were stored here, both large-caliber and for 30-millimeter automatic cannons, as well as operational-tactical and anti-tank missiles, anti-aircraft missiles of air defense systems. What was stored there on April 22, 2025 is a military secret. Information about the arsenal can be found on social networks in the section “Popular places in the rural settlement of Pershin.” There is a fence 8.4 km long, 14.2 km of railways and 15.3 km of roads. The buildings in this popular recreation spot were built during Khrushchev’s time, if not earlier. Some powerful mind decided to build shelters for 274 thousand tons of ammunition right on the outskirts of the district center. From the border of Kirzhach to the arsenal is 3 km, and to the Moscow highway – less than a kilometer. Although it is known that ammunition storage facilities in our country sometimes catch fire, and shells and fragments can fly over a distance of no less than 3 km. However, this is not the first and not the last arsenal with ammunition arranged in the city.
By 2017, this popular place was rebuilt and improved. At the same time, 650 million rubles were stolen out of 2.5 billion, according to materials of a criminal case. I don’t know whether poor construction in 2017 or violation of safety regulations led to the explosion. But “houses on our street trembled from a distant rumble. And so it was all over Kirzhach. Then, with intervals of about a quarter of an hour, it rumbled more quietly. This was a secondary detonation. And then I realized that I don’t live in Khrushchev’s time.
Governor Avdeev. Photo: Telegram channel Avdeeva. Firstly, mobile phones received an SMS: “Attention! Evacuation announced in the settlements of Barsovo, Mirny, Pershino, Khrapki, Dubki, Gribanovo of Kirzhach district. Tel. 112”. Secondly, a selfless employee of the bus station called all ticket holders one by one: buses are canceled, the road is blocked by the police, return your tickets! Thank you, kind person. Thirdly, on Yandex maps, a blacked-out zone appeared on the road at the same time, blocked by the police. Fourthly, in half an hour, I defeated the virtual assistant of the Russian Railways, and it connected me with a real live operator: trains were not canceled! Fifthly, Governor Avdeev immediately reported on Telegram how he looked at the evacuated people. I hadn’t even had a chance to ask yet, and he was already writing: “Visited the citizens evacuated to temporary accommodation in the Kirzhach district. Food, water, sleeping facilities – people are provided with everything necessary to get through this night while the responsible authorities complete work on the affected objects from the fire. We talked about what happened. Of course, residents are concerned, but they are slowly coming to their senses. They see that no one was abandoned in trouble. The region will make a decision on helping to restore lost property and housing.”
Kirzhach. Photo: Telegram channel kirzhachnews. Soon, exciting news began to come in. In the Krasny Oktyabr area, jet shells are flying. A shell fell on the territory of the RusKlimat plant in the middle of the working day. My close acquaintance, an engineer, happened to be passing by there, and the shell exploded above his head. He called me and wondered: shells from the arsenal should not explode, they are stored without detonators! By the way, the distance from Krasny Oktyabr to the burning arsenal is 3.5 km. So when it was built during Khrushchev’s time, the military clearly did not foresee something. And since then, thousands of country houses have sprung up around, and villages have doubled or tripled in size! The purchasing power of Muscovites (there are many more of them than locals) who have purchased country housing here, supports half of the district’s economy. So the 51st arsenal is located right in the middle of a sea of country houses. It is not surprising that some residents of the affected area received such SMS messages: “Attention! In the evacuated settlements in the absence of evacuation possibilities, move away from windows, go down to the basement (shelter).”
Kirzhach is home to 26,000 people today, although not long ago there were 32,000. The proximity to Moscow affects, many leave for work and forget to return. I love this city, although I ended up living on the outskirts. So in the center, I am still a bit hesitant.
Kirzhach. Place of the explosion. Photo: Telegram channel kirzhachnews. Here they knit masks and donate to drones, like everywhere else. There is a powerful NOD department of the [partially unintelligible] from the Central Bank of Russia (according to local beliefs, this is a branch of the American Federal Reserve System). From here came the world-famous Prokudin-Gorsky, who captured pre-revolutionary Russia in color photographs. There are as many shops per kilometer as in Kirzhach, I haven’t seen that in other cities. There is a swimming pool, a couple of stadiums, and local league football teams with names like “Pakhtakor,” “College,” “Torpedo,” and “Textile Worker.”
At one time, local residents and the local administration toyed with the idea of moving from the Vladimir region to Moscow – there is more asphalt there. But the Vladimir authorities did not support it. Well, no wonder: who wants to lose one of the most dynamically developing districts. It happens: the population is decreasing, and the number of factories is increasing. There is also an idea to join the Golden Ring program, where many tourists visit. Kirzhach is surrounded by a women’s monastery founded by Sergius of Radonezh even before the Battle of Kulikovo. And the city has long been ready to use the grants allocated based on the Golden Ring status to the last ruble.
Local mayors know how to spend money, they have already imprisoned not one or two. But it didn’t work out with the tourist status. Although we have plenty of disorganized tourists in the summer. There are also biker festivals, and metropolitan barber shops with a glossy look, where motorcyclists trim their beards. From Kirzhach, there is a road to the forest leading to the place where Yuri Gagarin’s plane crashed. Here, brides bring flowers. And in the church built nearby, the cosmonaut Leonov drew little people in spacesuits next to the angels at the top. He is a cosmonaut, that’s how he sees it.
Kirzhach. Photo: Telegram channel kirzhachnews. In short, the city deserves more. Therefore, passing by the site of the disaster in the train, where the sky was covered with smoke from explosions, I thought that if such a military test had already passed, some extra funds could be allocated to the city budget. Otherwise, from the central street, unpaved alleys diverge at times, just like in 1812 when the Vladimir militia was formed against Napoleon. Well, of course, controlling expenses here is not child’s play.
And on the coat of arms of Kirzhach (a golden long-eared owl), you could write at the bottom for tourists: “51st Main Missile and Artillery Directorate Arsenal.” Let the memory remain. Why not? It would be great to have this popular place.
P.S. Some may argue that this story-disaster I created in an inappropriate style. This is easy to understand. I write at night, and according to the latest data, there are no casualties. There are burn victims, there are fewer wounded (much less than could have been with such a scale). But our arsenal of 274 thousand tons of ammunition exploded, and there are no deaths! And that’s why I’m in a good mood.
