Ukrainian drones struck a major Russian arsenal, triggering an explosion that was detected by a seismic monitoring station, in one of the largest attacks on Moscow's military arsenals since the start of the war.
Pro-Russian military bloggers reported that Ukraine struck a depot of missiles, ammunition and explosives in the historic town of Toropets, more than 300 miles north of Ukraine and about 230 miles west of Moscow.
video Pictures on social media showed a huge ball of fire. Rising High Not far from the border with Belarus, bombs rose into the night sky and explosions echoed across the lake.
The attack was part of a broader Ukrainian drone campaign targeting Russian oil refineries, power plants, airfields and military factories, and highlights Kiev's enhanced long-range drone capabilities.
The earthquake monitoring station's sensors recorded what appeared to be a small earthquake in the area.
The Ukrainian daily Pravda reported that the operation was carried out by the Ukrainian Security Service in cooperation with Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Service and Special Operations Forces. An anonymous Ukrainian Security Service official said the weapons depot contained Russian-made long-range missiles and guided bombs known as KABs.
The Russian Defense Ministry said 54 Ukrainian drones targeted five regions in western Russia overnight and all were destroyed.
But Igor Rudenya, the governor of Russia's Tver region, tacitly acknowledged the strike, saying firefighters were trying to put out the blaze and that some residents had been evacuated from their homes.
Rudenya said debris from a destroyed Ukrainian drone had sparked the fire, but did not say what was burning.
Russian state media reported that daycare centers and schools in the Zapadnodvinsk district, neighboring the Toropetsk district of Tver Oblast, were closed on Wednesday.
Some pro-war Russian war bloggers expressed outrage as to why a Ukrainian drone could cause such a large explosion at a facility that was thought to be highly fortified.
In a scathing statement on Telegram, Anastasia Kashevalova, a well-connected and influential blogger, accused the Russian Defense Ministry and authorities of allowing Ukraine to “blow up a huge military base.”
She wrote: “I wonder how many more mistakes they can make…. The special operations are in their third year and the folly continues.”
Ukraine's attack using domestically manufactured drones comes amid continuing efforts by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to persuade allies to allow Kiev to use Western-supplied missiles against airbases and weapons dumps on Russian territory to thwart Moscow's steady advance in eastern Ukraine.
Kiev's allies, including the United States and Britain, are debating whether to allow Kiev to strike deep into Russian territory using missiles such as the U.S. long-range Atakmi missiles or the Anglo-French Storm Shadow, known in France as “Scalp.”
The Kremlin has said such a move would mean directly involving the West in the conflict, with serious consequences, and some officials close to President Vladimir Putin have suggested Moscow could respond with nuclear weapons.
Russian troops have been advancing continuously in eastern Ukraine since the beginning of the year, steadily approaching the major city of Pokrovsk.
Earlier in the day, Russian forces claimed they had captured another Ukrainian military stronghold, the town of Ukrayinsk, located between Pokrovsk and Krahove.
