On the night of 10 November, residents of Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Dnipro and a number of other cities in Ukraine reported unusual underground tremors, rumbling and sounds resembling explosions. According to eyewitnesses, in some buildings, walls shook, doors swung open and plaster fell from the walls. A theory is circulating on social media about a powerful underground explosion near Kyiv, the vibrations from which allegedly travelled through the Ukrainian Crystalline Shield. However, there is currently no official confirmation of an earthquake or any link between the tremors and explosions.
- Residents in several regions of Ukraine reported feeling tremors and hearing a loud rumbling sound during the night.
- Most of the testimonies came from Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia and Dnipro.
- Eyewitnesses also reported hearing explosions and feeling the residential buildings shake.
- The theory that the vibrations spread through the Ukrainian Crystalline Shield has not been confirmed.
- Seismological services have not yet determined the cause of the reported tremors.
Where in Ukraine were the tremors felt on the night of 10 November?
The first reports of unusual vibrations appeared on local social media groups shortly after midnight. Residents of Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia and Dnipro described brief tremors in buildings, a low-frequency rumble and sounds resembling distant explosions.
A particularly large number of reports came from Vinnytsia. Some eyewitnesses claimed that the tremors woke people up, caused doors to swing open in flats and caused plaster to crumble. At the same time, other residents of the same towns said they had not noticed anything out of the ordinary.
Reports of the fluctuations were also circulated by residents of Cherkasy and Zaporizhzhia. However, there is as yet no independent confirmation that all these incidents were caused by a single event.
What the seismological services have revealed
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre’s (EMSC) automated system generated a preliminary event report at approximately 00:26 Kyiv time. However, it did not specify the magnitude, the exact epicentre or the depth of the possible seismic source.
As of the morning of 10 November, the list published by Ukraine’s Main Centre for Special Control did not include any confirmed earthquake that would correspond to the reports received during the night. The most recent event recorded in Ukraine remained a 3.2-magnitude earthquake in the Poltava region on 30 October.
The absence of a confirmed record means that the event cannot be classified as an earthquake, but this in itself does not establish any other cause for the tremors.
Could the explosions near Kyiv have caused tremors in other cities?
There is speculation circulating on social media that the tremors may have been caused by a powerful underground explosion near Kyiv. According to this theory, the seismic waves travelled through the ancient crystalline rocks of the Ukrainian Shield, affecting several regions.
The Ukrainian Shield It is, in fact, a large geological structure, the bedrock of which consists of granites, gneisses and other hard rocks. Seismic waves are capable of travelling through such rocks over considerable distances. However, the claim that the shield acts as a continuous resonator or transmits vibrations without any loss of energy is not consistent with the principles of seismology.
The nature of wave propagation depends on the source’s magnitude and depth, geological conditions and distance. To establish the cause of the night-time tremors, records from seismic stations are required, as these enable the time of occurrence, coordinates and characteristics of the vibrations to be determined.
At present, there is no confirmed evidence to link reports from various cities to a specific underground explosion near Kyiv.
