large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on Russia triggered an earthquake-sized blast at a major arsenal in the Tver region on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of a nearby town, war bloggers and some media reported.
Unverified video and images on social media showed a huge ball of flame blasting into the night sky and multiple detonations thundering across a lake about 380 km west of Moscow.
NASA satellites picked up intense heat sources emanating from an area of about 14 square kilometres (5 square miles) at the site in the early hours and earthquake monitoring stations noted what sensors thought was a small earthquake in the area.
"The enemy hit an ammunition depot in the area of Toropets," said Yuri Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger. "Everything that can burn is already burning there (and exploding)."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking in his nightly video address, hailed the outcome of the attack without referring specifically to the target.
"A very important result was achieved last night on Russian territory and such actions weaken the enemy," Zelenskiy said. "I thank everyone involved. Such precision is truly inspiring."
He thanked the SBU security service, the HUR intelligence service and the Special Operations Forces.
A source in Ukraine's SBU state security service had earlier told Reuters the drone attack had destroyed a warehouse storing missiles, guided bombs and artillery ammunition.
Russian state media have in the past reported that a major arsenal for conventional weapons was located at the site of the blasts. State media, now subject to military censorship laws, was muted in its reporting on Wednesday.
Igor Rudenya, governor of the Tver region, said that Ukrainian drones had been shot down, that a fire had broken out and that some residents were being evacuated. He did not say what was burning.
One woman told Reuters that members of her family had been evacuated from Toropets.
"A fire started with explosions," said the woman, who identified herself only as Irina.
Rudenya later said the situation in Toropets was stable as of midday local time (0900 GMT) and that evacuated residents could return. The fire had been put out and there were no recorded fatalities, he said.
Russia and Ukraine each reported dozens of enemy drone attacks on their territory overnight, with Russian forces advancing in eastern Ukraine.
MAJOR EXPLOSION
The size of the main blast shown in the unverified social media video was consistent with 200-240 tons of high explosives detonating, said George William Herbert of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California.
A Toropets chatroom on the Russian social media site VK was flooded with messages of support from other parts of the country and offers of help to people fleeing the town.
Some people were asking whether buildings at specific addresses were still standing.
"People, does anyone know what's happened to Kudino village??? They told me nothing is left of our house," posted one woman.
Another woman replied: "It's horror there." Kudino is a village 4.5 km (2.8 miles) northeast of Toropets.
Some war bloggers asked how drones could trigger such large blasts at what was thought to be a highly fortified facility.
According to an RIA state news agency report from 2018, Russia was building an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets, a 1,000-year-old town, with a population of just over 11,000.
Dmitry Bulgakov, then a deputy defence minister, told RIA in 2018 that the facility could defend weapons from missiles and even a small nuclear attack. Bulgakov was arrested earlier this year on corruption charges, which he denies.
"It (the concrete facilities) ensures their reliable and safe storage, protects them from air and missile strikes and even from the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion," RIA quoted Bulgakov as saying at the time.
Some Russians on chat groups expressed anger.
"Why wasn't the ammunition underground?! What are you doing???? In Kudino, houses were blown away! Why is the forest burning and no one is there... What kind of negligence is this!!!!" one woman posted.
Russia reported that its air defense units had destroyed 54 drones launched against five Russian regions overnight, without mentioning Tver. Ukraine said it had shot down 46 of 52 drones launched by Moscow overnight and that Russia had used three guided air missiles which did not reach their targets.
© Thomson Reuters 2024.
42 Comments
TaiwanIsNotChina
Good going Ukraine!!! Ramp up these attacks to bring the war to Russia!!!
JJE
This means that RFAF, for the next two or three weeks max, instead of enjoying a 20:1 ratio in superiority of munitions/shells/rockets/missiles, it will be down to a 19.5:1 ratio.
Irony here is earlier in the war there were many similar explosions at AFU facilities in the western part of the country, very similar in layout as pictured, that had menacing mushroom clouds, registered as earthquakes. Caught on camera too but the media outright ignored them.
Hasn't stopped Pokrovsk sector cracking and crumbling. Torestsk sector is starting to go wobbly, pear shaped for Kyiv-regime forces too. RFAF also have crossed the canal at Chasiv Yar and have deep positions.
Hercolobus
The not so obvious is becoming obvious: full scale against Russia from the NATO cartel.
Banthu
A woman's house is a civilian target.
Targeting civilian population centers is a war crime.
ClippetyClop
You Vatniks need to take the rough with the smooth. Invading, slaughtering and annexing is all fun and games when it's going well. But sometimes your own stuff goes boom too.
Just remember the good 'ole times back in Feb 2022 eh.
stormcrow
At least the Ukrainians are going after military targets instead of civilian ones. Whereas the Russians prefer civilian targets, such as schools, hospitals, churches, etc.
Underworld
Russian incompetence.
Strangerland
Hahahahahahahahahaha
Wow is Russia ever incompetent. Worst. 72. Hour. Special. Invasion. Ever.
The Russian people must be thinking their government is pathetic - can't take over the neighbors, can't stop the neighbors from trashing Russia.
Russian shame.
Antiquesaving
Hilarious!
We get total silence for weeks about Ukraine and then Ukraine hits a single ammo dump and it is celebrated like they just won the war.
Russia in the past few months has blown up multiple Ukrainian dumps Taken down several Ukrainian jet, and advanced in every front increasing territory to the point of surpassing the vaunted Kursk offensive the news went crazy about.
Russia is now firmly inside Toretsk, been on the offensive and pushing Ukraine back and encircling Ukraine troops in Kursk. Doing the same in multiple places in Donetsk, Luhansk, even taking territory in Krinki, all confirmed by Ukraine.
But total silence on these Ukrainian losses by MSM.
Some dude
"No it doesn't!"
Russian state TV and all the vatniks on here.Strangerland
Huh? Maybe if you read something other than Kremlin and far-right extremist propaganda, you'd see just how devastating Ukraine has been on Russian infrastructure recently. Reports daily even! If you stay in your bubble though, they hide it from you.
The Russians are running out of places to store oil. Then they have to shut down oil wells in Siberia. And if don't know how many years that takes to re-start them, and how they run at a degraded level forever after being restarted, it makes an interesting google.
Antiquesaving
The cope is funny.
Those going "Ukraine will win" and acting like this is important while ignoring the battlefield losses by Ukraine, they make me think of the people that believed all of the propaganda by the German government during world war II and by the American government during the Vietnam war, reality doesn't make a difference the propagandas all they care about.
TaiwanIsNotChina
I'm sure the ICC will get right on it. Oh wait, Russia is not a member and Russia is violating six ways from Sunday in Ukraine.
JJE
One could hardly dispute Kyiv-regime cheerleaders need a morale boost; it's been a miserable long number of months and things have been going continuously south fast. Look at a map. The Kursk incursion, which flopped after it failed to seize KNPP, gave only a short-lived sense of optimism - even the true believers were finding that act hard to follow. Then look at a map of Donbass Eastern Front - sobering stuff.
And that brings us to the main point: operations like this get significant western media consumption and impact, perhaps out of proportion to reality (more on that below). That's indicative of much of Kyiv-regime does recently; like winning the information war means one is winning the actual war - completely delusional stuff.
Granted this is a superior target as opposed to a symbolic target, like the Kerch Bridge, Kremlin or randomly killing civilians in Belgorod. And it may even have a limited impact which needs to be gauged and put in perspective.
Here's why:
Russia has many, many, many munition depots in all shapes and sizes in many, many locations.
They have massively ramped up arms production so any losses can be made good relatively fast.
FAB bombs are one of the heavy hitters and have been for a while - there is an endless supply of these and the UMPK glide kit is attached and prepped by aviation ordnance folk on site. They are churning out both of these faster than hot cross buns.
Other reasons include other military districts being able to transfer anything that conceivably is in immediate shortage/need - of which no indication is immediately apparent.
In conclusion, while a temporary morale boost, this is highly unlikely to swing the tide on the main battlefront, correct AFU manpower issues or bring forward the date of the next NAFO beach party in Mariupol or Crimea onto a calendar anytime soon.
Antiquesaving
And as I pointed out it is Ukraine saying all I wrote.
Russia is actually claiming a lot lot more.
But go back and again repeat the long debunked 72 hours thing and as it seems to make you feel good.
ClippetyClop
There was an article on your team’s wonderful invading skills as far back as yesterday.
https://japantoday.com/category/world/russia-captures-ukrainsk-in-east-ukraine-state-media-and-war-bloggers-say
It was also available on various lefty news pages that make you angry.
So your claim is false.
Antiquesaving
Interesting you knew about that but as usual you and the majority of the rah rah rah Ukraine club stayed away from comments on that one!
Seems when ever the negative fact are published, we get a very big silence from certain people here.
JJE
9 out of 10.
Crimea secure.
Donbass largely secure and coming under full control.
Millions of new citizens.
Also means a large rump of strategic minerals of the former Ukraine are now under Moscow's care.
AFU manpower issue critical.
Overall demographics for Ukraine looking very ominous.
Future territorial acquisitions.
RFAF bigger than they were at start, more modernized and trained with many veteran units.
Russian economy booming.
Strangerland
So you think Moscow getting bombed is the war going to plan?
Strangerland
How much of Russia is it acceptable for Ukraine to take over before the number goes down to 8/10?
One more oblast maybe?
burgers and beers
At least the Ukrainians are going after military targets instead of civilian ones. Whereas the Russians prefer civilian targets, such as schools, hospitals, churches, etc.
Washington propaganda and misinformation as usual. Russia is going after military targets. Just compare civilian casualties in Ukraine vs Gaza.
theFu
Russia attacks hospitals.
Ukraine attacks weapon depots.
Hardly. Check the numbers. Russia trades with India, China, NK, a few places in the middle east and Africa. Oh ... and with Iran. The Russian economy has become driven by the war. Putin can't afford to stop it and he can't afford to keep it going. He's been increasing govt social programs to keep average Russians from wanting him gone. That's cannot continue forever. Printing more Rubles is inflationary. They are having to important fighting age men from other countries to replace their casualties.
burgers and beers
The Russians are running out of places to store oil. Then they have to shut down oil wells in Siberia. And if don't know how many years that takes to re-start them, and how they run at a degraded level forever after being restarted, it makes an interesting google.
Cool story, will that finally bring the Russian economy to collapse by the end of this year? Since it is already on its knees according to our Washington propaganda experts. They just forgot to tell IMF about it, LOL.
Strangerland
Oh I think they’ll kill then all, not drive them out.
burgers and beers
"A typical ploy of people who are on the wrong side of the argument and know it."
It might be, but Antique isn't on the wrong side of the argument.
John
Boom goes the justice.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Donald Trump says millions have died in Ukraine and military casualties are as important as civilian.
burgers and beers
Oh I think they’ll kill then all, not drive them out.
But the Russians are advancing and taking territory on the Donbas frontline daily according to the western media. Do you think western media is lying? I hope not but it's possible.
New York Times -How Russia’s Steady Advance Threatens Ukraine’s East
burgers and beers
Donald Trump says millions have died in Ukraine and military casualties are as important as civilian.
As expected the Dems propaganda team just can't help but try to bring Trump up. Obsesed with the orange guy 24/7. Help is available.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Returned many Azov heroes to their country so mission accomplished.
There's not an unlimited supply of Moscow's shoddy aircraft, though.
That's okay, the beach parties in Odessa can be scheduled right now.
Do you think charging fixed positions and operating howitzers will come in handy against NATO?
20% interest rates is the wrong kind of booming.
TaiwanIsNotChina
He's your hero, on your team Putin. Just quoting him back to you.
JJE
Ukraine will never get back Crimea and the Donbass, not to mention other areas they will lose six ways from Sunday.
The country is going down the demographic gurgler all because of Washington. Hope it was worth it.
Underworld
burgers and beers
When do you think they will take Pokrovsk? I heard it was about to fall a month ago...
JJE
The fascists are the people who wear the controversial badges of those groups. Clearing up the confusion, but one hopes you are aware they are your side.
Antiquesaving
Yes I am sure these are real I mean, some officer was running around Ukraine with the full plans and everything.
Seriously you believe that?
You must still believe the ghost of Kiev shot down hundreds of Russian planes.
Remember, Ghost of Kiev, remember zaporizhia offensive has broken through Russian lines heading to Crimea, remember Bakhmut Russia is losing, remember Mariupol will never surrender and fight to the last man, etc...
Yeah "captured" plans by Ukraine, totally believable.
Antiquesaving
To all the "Ukraine will prevail" " Ukraine is winning" " Ukraine will take back Crimea" etc...
I here the Brooklyn bridge is for sale, Zelensky says he will give you a great deal!
JJE
Looks like this strike and others could have been launched from the Baltic states and possibly Finland.
There will be severe repercussions if that is the case.
fallaffel
If you believe the Moscow Regime propa
Strangerland
So which of you Russians is willing to admit you think that losing parts of Russia to Ukraine in the invasion OF Ukraine was part of Putin’s plan all along? And was Moscow getting bombed also part of the plan?
fallaffel
If you believe the propaganda pushed by the Moscow regime, things are rosey. If you can think independently, it's not the case.
Ukraine is getting better and better at striking targets anywhere in Russia, and can apparently even take Russian territory. This was unimaginable a year or two ago. No matter how much territory in Donbass Russia takes (illegally), there will be fewer and fewer safe places in Russia thanks to their invasion. This is strange because the rationale for the invasion was to make Russia "safer" from some imaginary NATO threat. Looks like a total failure actually.
John
Never is a very long time.
Gonna pin this one for future reference.
Strangerland
What's built to defend Russia yet falls to homemade drones?
A Soviet weapons storage meant to withstand a nuclear attack!