Reports claim that pro-Russian forces have rigged an ammunition store in breakaway Transnistria with explosives, which could blow up akin to a nuclear blast.
Even if there were enough explosives, the ammunition in Cobasna is stored within casings, which further limit their detonation power.
Another issue with this claim is that for the explosion to approach nuclear-blast levels, the ammunition would all have to detonate at the same time. If someone wanted to cause the entire store to explode, they would need to either move all the explosives closer together, or provide a means of triggering all of the explosive piles.
"Of course an explosion of stored ammunition could cause devastating blast and ignite fires, but overall the effect would be less than a nuclear weapon of similar total explosive yield, and of course there would beand very different implications and escalation risks," Ruff said.
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