Ukraine has blown up a Russian ammunition dump, triggering an explosion so powerful it was picked up by earthquake monitors.
A huge explosion and mushroom cloud was seen coming from a warehouse complex in the city of Toropets, about 300 miles over the border with Ukraine.
It is believed that the depot is used to house North Korean missiles and some of Russia’s most advanced weaponry, including guided bombs, artillery and S-400 air defence systems.
Plumes of smoke rising from the fires were so large that they could be seen from space. The explosions also triggered seismic activity measuring 2.8 points on the Richter scale.
Video footage shot near the depot showed a fireball lifting into the sky so bright it could be seen for miles around, with shockwaves emanating from the blast area.
Russian social media channels showed significant damage to buildings in Toropets, with windows blown from their frames and scorch marks on the walls.
Residents on local online chat groups described villages closer to the ammunition dump being completely destroyed.
One picture appeared to show a house with window frames blown from their fittings into a house overlooking the blast site.
A source in Ukraine’s SBU state security service said its drones had caused an “extremely powerful detonation”. It is not clear exactly which weapons were being stored at the warehouses at the time of the explosion, but Ukraine said they included missiles intended for tactical launch systems and guided bombs.
Russian sources have previously described the storage location of an area of significant importance for Moscow’s armed forces. The site covers an area around two square miles in size, while its outside perimeter is roughly seven miles.
In 2018, Dmitry Bulgakov, a Russian general, said: “The arsenal in Toropets allows us to shelter reserves of missiles and ammunition from external influences and ensure their safety and fire and explosion safety.”
The military site has been targeted by Ukraine twice before, in May and June, according to Astra, the Russian Telegram news channel.
Russian officials attempted to downplay the scale of the strike, claiming air defence crews had repelled a Ukrainian drone attack.
The country’s defence ministry reported that its forces had destroyed 54 Ukrainian drones overnight without mentioning the attack on the storage site.
Local authorities were carrying out evacuations of the civilian population living near the base in Toropets. Schools and nurseries were also cancelled on Wednesday in parts of Russia’s Tver region.
On Wednesday morning, Igor Rudenya, the region’s governor, delivered a speech to camera while explosions were still ringing out in the distance.
Russia’s emergency text message broadcast system pinged mobile phones near the military base, asking people not to publish images of explosions and drones on social media.
Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, acknowledged the attack by sharing a video of the explosion, commenting: “The demilitarisation of Russia is necessary to end terror.”
Ukraine has been calling on its Western partners to allow Kyiv’s forces to use Western-provided Storm Shadow and Atacms missiles for such strikes.
But with resistance to relaxing the restrictions in the White House, Ukrainian troops are forced to rely on homemade one-way-attack drones.
Power outages were announced on Wednesday in parts of the Tver region, local administration said in a statement that followed reports of the drone attack.
Meanwhile, Russian drones attacked energy facilities in Ukraine’s north-eastern city of Sumy, the regional authorities said on Wednesday.
It has been reported that nobody was injured in the attack, but repeated strikes on the region’s energy facilities have strained the system.
Regional authorities said that air defences shot down 16 drones over the Sumy region during the overnight attack.
Ukraine’s energy ministry said Russia’s Tuesday attacks had caused a fire at a power substation in the Sumy region and cut power to more than 281,000 consumers. Power was later partially restored, it said.
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