- Overnight on 17/18 September 2024, Ukraine conducted a successful one-way attack (OWA) uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) strike on Toropets strategic ammunition depot in Russia's Tver region, approximately 500km from Ukraine. This depot is a storage site of the 107th Arsenal of the Russian Main Missile and Artillery Directorate, and almost certainly housed munitions of varying calibres for frontline use, as well as missiles and glide bombs used by nearby airfields. Ammunition procured from North Korea was also reportedly stored here.
- Renovated in 2018, this is one of Russia's largest strategic ammunition depots directly supporting its operation in Ukraine, storing more than 30,000 tonnes of ordnance. Recent improvements to the site had been driven by previous poor storage of aging explosive material leading to a series of explosions across several depots. One such explosion in June 2011 in Pugachevo, Udmurtia, saw 3,000 homes damaged and 30,000 people evacuated.
- The explosion at Toropets was recorded at 2.7 on the Richter scale, equivalent to a mild earthquake, with fires covering a 6 km-wide area. It is highly likely that poor storage of munitions, left vulnerable to OWA UAVs, caused a chain reaction of cascading detonations within the bunker system, resulting in enormous losses of ordnance. Russian air defence continues to struggle with Ukrainian deep strike operations, despite claiming to have intercepted more than 50 UAVs in this attack. Although part of a wider supply network, this loss will highly likely disrupt Russian ground operations, particularly in the Kursk region.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 21 September 2024.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) September 21, 2024
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Ukrainian forces repelled a major Russian offensive in Kursk, destroying a battalion, 28 armored vehicles, and inflicting over 200 casualties on Russia.
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