Ukraine struck three arms depots in Russia in four days last week, destroying tens of thousands of tons of munitions
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Last week, Ukraine hit three Russian ammunition depots in four days with locally produced weapons.
According to experts, Kyiv is seeking to prove its ability to strike targets inside Russia, while Volodymyr Zelensky continues to call on his Western allies to lift restrictions on the use of their missiles.
Last Wednesday, Ukraine struck the Toropets depot in Russia’s Tver region. The Estonian Defense Forces Intelligence Center said: The strike caused the explosion of 30,000 tons of munitionsadding that the size of the explosion was equivalent to 750,000 artillery shells.
Thousands of tons of ammunition destroyed
These attacks destroyed enough munitions to affect Russian operations in the coming months.estimates the American Institute for the Study of War.
The British Ministry of Defense, for its part, specifies that the Toropets depot is one of the most important in Russia. Renovated in 2018, it directly supports Moscow’s operations in Ukraine.
On Saturday, Kyiv’s forces struck the Oktyabrsky depot, about 16 kilometers south of Toropets, and another in Tikhoretsk, Krasnodar region.
The Ukrainian General Staff said the Tikhoretsk arsenal contained at least 2,000 tons of ammunition, including weapons supplied by North Korea, at the time of the strike. Kyiv claims thatIt was one of the three largest ammunition depots in Russia and “one of the main storage facilities of the Russian army’s logistics system”.
The U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank said in February that Tikhoretsk was among a number of Russian munitions sites that had been expanded to store munitions closer to the front lines.
How did Ukraine strike Russian arms depots?
In a speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted that Kyiv used domestically produced weapons for the strikes.
“Another Russian depot was damaged, and it was an important depot for the occupier.”he says.
“The Ukrainian Security Service also did a good job at another site of Russian troops. These were depots of tactical missiles and guided aerial bombs, which Russia uses to terrorize our cities and positions.”.
Volodymyr Zelensky did not specify the type of weapon used by Ukraine.
Russia responded to the attack by saying: Ukrainian drones were interceptedThe governor of the Krasnodar region added that debris from a drone had sparked a fire that had spread “spread to explosive objects” and caused detonations. Residents in the surrounding area were evacuated.
On Monday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umierov said that Kyiv had destroyed or damaged more than 200 military installations in Russia by 2023 using so-called “semi-nuclear” technology. “the drone swarm”.
“Today, Ukrainian drones fly over 1,000 kilometers, reaching Murmansk and the Volga region, destroying Russian oil refineries and airfields”he says.
