( CNN ) -- Six Russian soldiers were killed and another 12 injured by an explosion during the disposal of ammunition at a firing range , the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday . A commission , led by Southern Military District Commander General Alexander Galkin , has been ordered to the scene at the Ashuluk firing range by Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov , a press statement said . Criminal and military investigators were dispatched to the explosion site , which is located in the southern region of Astrakhan , according to the Russian Investigative Committee . The explosion is the third this summer at a Russian munitions depot . In early June , a series of explosions and a subsequent fire at an artillery depot in the region of Bashkortostan injured twelve people and burned down 40 buildings . One hundred people were left homeless . A day later , fifty-seven people were treated for injuries related to a fire at an army munitions depot in Russia 's western Ural Mountains region , authorities said . It started after munitions stored in wooden containers exploded , said Grigory Rapota , the plenipotentiary representative in the region for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev . The fire forced the evacuations of 28,000 people within a 10-kilometer ( 6.2 mile ) radius of the depot at the military base in Pugachevo , located east of Moscow .
The explosion occurred during the disposal of ammunition . An investigation is ordered by the Russian Defense Minister . A man walks past a damaged building in downtown Donetsk, Ukraine, on February 18.