A large weapons depot in Achinsk, Russia, suffered a number of explosions in the beginning of August. These explosions inflicted significant damage to the nearby households and also killed and injured a number of people and led thousands to be evacuated.

Russian state media devoted very little coverage to the incident, with brief reporting days after it occurred. According to Kremlin outlet RIA Novosti, one person was killed, 32 injured, and 16,000 evacuated. The explosions in the arms depot reportedly took place on August 5 and August 9. This is not the first incident of its kind in Russia in 2019. On April 28, the Krasmash missile factory in Izhevsk, which produces Russian hypersonic RS-28 “Sarmat” intercontinental ballistic missiles, caught fire. Most of the information about this earlier accident also came primarily from social media users.

On August 8, a separate military incident happened in Russia, this time in the Far North village of Nyonoksa. Initial reports on the same day claimed that at least two people were killed in the deadly incident, with radiation levels in the area drastically increasing. U.S. intelligence and independent researchers subsequently concluded that a failed nuclear-propelled missile launch caused a deadly radiation increase in the area, after which thousands of locals were evacuated. On August 10, an official version of the event was issued by Rosatom nuclear agency admitting the death of five nuclear scientists but saying that the incident was “work related to the engineering and technical support of an isotope power source in a liquid-propulsion system.”

Within hours of the Achinsk incident, photos and videos started surfacing online. The DFRLab used reverse image search to verify that the videos had not been posted before, suggesting they were unique to this incident.

One of the most iconic of the photos was taken on August 5 and featured by a variety of media outlets. The photo shows a family of three standing on a hill in Achinsk, observing a large plume of smoke and fire rising in the distance.

The iconic photo of the explosion taken on August 5, 2019. (Source: @AlexKokcharov/archive)

The DFRLab geolocated the photo to verify its authenticity. The geolocation revealed that it was taken in central Achinsk, pointing toward the explosion south of the city. Officials indicated that a lightning strike had caused the explosion, but this could not be confirmed at the moment using open-source information. Historical weather data from WolframAlpha suggests that there were thunderstorms in Achinsk on Monday, August 5, 2019, from 8:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m., but in the images and photos that surfaced online of the incident, it is still relatively bright outside and no signs of rain are visible.