UEMS / Ammunition Depot event in Gilyazi area, Azerbaijan on Sun 27th August 2017

On Sunday, August 27, 2017, multiple explosions rocked the Azerbaijani munitions depot, called Gilyazi. Azerbaijani officials downplayed the incident, saying that the ammunition collected in the depot had been meant to be disposed, and some media outlets — including the New York Times — called the location an “ammunition dump.” With satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs, Bellingcat has been able to take a closer look at the incident and its fallout. Open source imagery and Soviet-era sources provide details regarding the bunker-type storage at the Gilyazi munitions installation, which is well-known in military circles for its massive military stockpiles. Of the three South Caucasian nations, Azerbaijan inherited the largest stocks of arsenal and munitions from the Soviet Union. Lacking estimates from the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense (MoD) of damaged stock and overall impact, imagery helps us identify the extent of the damage.