Overnight on September 20-21, 2024, Ukrainian forces struck russian ammunition depots at Tikhoretsk in Krasnodar and another site at Toropets in Tver with UAVs. This followed a previous successful strike at another depot in Toropets on September 18 that almost certainly destroyed at least 30,000 tons of ammunition in open and bunker storage, according to the UK Defense Intelligence.
The strikes will almost certainly cause, at a minimum, short-term disruption to russian artillery and small-arms munitions supplies, critical resources in a war of attrition dominated by mass fires. The total tonnage of ammunition destroyed across the three sites represents the largest loss of russian and North Korean supplied ammunition during the war.
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These major strikes in quick succession demonstrate that, despite russia deploying an extensive layered air-defense posture (including fighter jets) surrounding Ukraine, they continue to struggle against Ukrainian UAVs employed in deep-strike operations into russia. It is highly likely this will force further dispersals in russian logistics chain for fear of additional strikes, increasing the burden on an already stretched system.
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