Explosion at Serbian Ammunition Factory

An explosion occurred at the Serbian Krušik ammunition factory, just one day after Russia accused it of supplying weapons to Ukraine.

The Serbian outlet N1 reported on this.

In the morning, at around 7:40 a.m., during a routine operation of pressing PETN, an initiation of the explosive mixture took place. As a result, one worker was injured, and four others sustained minor injuries with symptoms resembling a concussion.
The Krušik factory in Valjevo is one of the leading enterprises in Serbia’s defense industry, specializing in the production of a wide range of ammunition and missile weaponry.

The Serbian company’s product range includes:

• 60 mm mortar shells
• 81 mm mortar shells
• 82 mm mortar shells
• 120 mm mortar shells
• 155 mm artillery shells
• 107 mm unguided rockets for MLRS
• 122 mm unguided rockets for MLRS
• Unguided rockets
• bombs
• 9M14 Malyutka anti-tank missiles

The PETN mentioned in the report, which caused the explosion, was likely being used to equip fuzes for artillery ammunition or the shaped charge warhead of anti-tank missiles.

The incident occurred one day after the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation accused Serbia’s defense industry of supplying ammunition to Ukraine—“in contradiction to Belgrade’s officially declared ‘neutrality.’”

The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation stated that the volume of weapons supplied “is measured in hundreds of thousands of rockets for multiple launch rocket systems and howitzers, as well as millions of rounds of small arms ammunition.”

One of the key suppliers of these weapons, according to the Russian agency, is the aforementioned Krušik plant. Previously, their 122mm ER Grad 2000 rockets were observed being used by Ukrainian forces.

However, this is not the first incident involving the detonation of explosive materials at the Serbian plant. In August of last year, an explosion occurred in a production workshop at the same factory—an artillery shell detonated.

At the time of the incident, twenty people were present in the facility, eight of whom were injured. One person was hospitalized with serious bodily injuries.

The plant’s executives stated at the time that the incident had not been widespread, which had helped avoid significant casualties and material damage.