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Satellite imagery has revealed the extent of the destruction caused by a drone attack on a Russian missile and ammunition facility which is believed to store rockets capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Drone operators from Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), Ukraine’s Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR), and Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SSO) attacked the facility in Toropets, Tver oblast around 3.30 a.m. Wednesday, according to Ukrainian outlet Suspilne, citing a Kyiv intelligence source.
Wednesday’s attack could have been the biggest of the war so far, and the blast registered as a small earthquake on monitoring systems, according to Reuters. Also, drone attacks on military facilities in Russia are degrading Putin’s long-range missile options, according to Kyiv.
Video widely shared on social media showed a huge ball of flame and numerous detonations following the strike on the 107th Main Missile and Artillery Directorate (GRAU) arsenal, located 240 miles west of Moscow.
Without directly claiming responsibility, Ukraine has stepped up its drone strikes on military sites across Russia which are aimed at choking Moscow’s war machine powering its full-scale invasion. Satellite images taken before and after the attacks show the destruction. Radio Liberty’s “Schemes” project published satellite images from Planet Labs taken at 11.30 a.m.
Wednesday which showed smoke billowing into the sky. NASA satellite images recorded thermal signatures over almost the entire territory of the site which Suspilne said contained Iskander missiles, Tochka-U ballistic missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, and artillery ammunition.
Social media users shared other before and after satellite images which showed the destruction of the facility. The head of Ukraine’s Center for Combatting Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, said the site may have also stored Grad multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), S-300 and S-400 air defense missiles, and North Korean KN-23 ballistic missiles, Euromaidan press reported. Russia has repeatedly used Iskanders to strike at Ukrainian infrastructure, while the Tochka-U was reportedly used in an attack on Kramatorsk railway station in April 2022.
The North Korean KN-23 is tactical ballistic missile which resembles the Russian Iskander-M. All three are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Suspilne’s sources said the Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian military facilities are undermining Moscow’s ability to conduct long-range missile strikes against Ukraine.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Wednesday that continued Ukrainian strikes on logistics sites within Russia “will generate wider operational pressures on the Russian military beyond the individual destruction of ammunition stockpiles and logistics facilities.” The think tank said Ukrainian HMARS strikes against depots in 2022 had forced Russian forces to disperse ammunition storage facilities which had degraded its operations. Further attacks as big as the one at Toropets could lead to a similar move, the think tank added.
Meanwhile, Russian military bloggers have blamed Russian authorities for poorly constructing the Tver facility and accused Russian forces of possibly mishandling missiles and artillery ammunition stockpiles there. The milbloggers took aim at officials such as former Deputy Minister of Defense, Army General Dmitry Bulgakov who oversaw the facility’s construction and was arrested in July on fraud charges.
HH