At least nine tanks storing mainly gasoline at the depot in Vasylkiv, 30km (19 miles) from Kiev, were on fire sending a huge pall of smoke over the surrounding area.
''An explosion at a fuel depot near Vasylkiv,' interior minister Arsen Avakov said on Twitter, referring to a town outside of Kiev.
'Gigantic. Firemen have died,' he said, adding that six more were hospitalised with burns.
Videos posted online showed the force of the explosion and the heatwave it produced, setting aflame several fire trucks that were rushed to the scene.
'Everything is on fire,' a voice in one of the videos posted on YouTube said.
A fireman wearing a silver heat-resistant suit and masks was seen running away from the scene of the disaster for safety.
'Everyone – leave. Whoever is still here – leave,' one fireman said in a video.
A huge operation was in action involving 62 fire-fighting units and three trains which had delivered equipment and water supplies to the area, emergency services said.
Police said the fire, which began in one fuel tank and spread to others, was likely to have been started by a technical fault but the cause was not yet fully clear.
'As of 7am (4am GMT) efforts to fight the fire are still going on,' the emergency services said.
'The fire extended over eight tanks with a capacity of 900 cubic metres and several small containers.'
The fuel depot hit by the initial explosion is owned by a Ukrainian company called BRSM-Nafta that operates a chain of filling stations.
The nearby filling station firm called KLO said it was also evacuating its staff from the scene.
'The danger is real,' KLO co-owner Vyacheslav Steshenko told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
- Daily Mail UK
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