Explosion at Rivne police station kills bomb disposal expert, three injured

An explosion at Police Station No. 1 in Rivne on 31 August killed one bomb disposal expert and injured three other officers from the same unit, according to the Rivne Oblast police. The blast occurred at around 15:30 in the station’s courtyard while the specialists were carrying out their duties, the police said in a Facebook statement cited by Ukrainska Pravda.

The State Bureau of Investigation has opened a criminal case under Article 264 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which covers negligent storage of firearms or ammunition. No further details on the exact type of ordnance or the circumstances of the detonation have been released as of 4 September.

Rivne, a regional capital in western Ukraine roughly 300 km from the nearest front line, has largely been spared the daily shelling that hits eastern and southern cities. But the war has tasked police across the country with handling and storing large quantities of captured or abandoned ammunition, as well as unexploded ordnance from Russian strikes. Bomb disposal units are routinely called to dispose of munitions found in fields, forests and residential areas.

“As a result of the detonation, one bomb disposal expert was killed and three other police officers from the same unit were injured,” the Rivne Oblast police statement read. The names of the deceased and the injured have not been publicly disclosed.

Initial reports on 31 August, also from Ukrainska Pravda, confirmed that one officer had been killed and three were injured. The follow-up statement clarified that the explosion occurred during bomb disposal operations, not as a result of an external attack.

The incident is unrelated to the Russian morning strike on Odesa on 4 September, which also caused casualties. The Rivne explosion is being treated as an accident involving ordnance handled by the police station’s own personnel.

While the investigation is at an early stage, the case highlights the acute risks that Ukrainian police and emergency services face in managing explosive remnants of war. Even in rear-area cities like Rivne, the handling of ammunition — whether seized from civilian stockpiles or recovered from battlefields — remains a dangerous daily task. The Ukrainian government has repeatedly warned about the proliferation of unsecured weapons and munitions since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.

No charges have been filed yet, and the condition of the three injured officers has not been updated since the initial statement. The Rivne Oblast police have not indicated whether the ordnance involved was of Russian or Ukrainian origin, or whether it was a leftover from pre-war stockpiles.