Mass media report on the consequences of the Ukrainian drone attack overnight September 18th, 2024. The target was the 107th Arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate (GRAU) of the russian Ministry of Defense. Preliminary data suggests about 30,000 tons of various ammunition was kept there, including advanced air defense and ballistic missiles, making it arguably the biggest ammo depot in the geographically European part of russia.
The russian authorities in the region deny that any drones had reached the facility, only some debris fell in the area. However, the videos filmed by locals and objective control data says otherwise. According to Volcanodiscovery, "a light magnitude earthquake" was detected in the area, most closely to the town of Toropets.
Read more: Ukrainian Drone Strike Devastates russian Missile Depot in Tver Region, What Missiles Were There
The resource does not directly tie the seismic activity to the events of the night, but the time and place coincide: the earthquake began at 4:29 a.m. (Moscow time) on September 18, 2024, with the epicenter 13 kilometers north of Toropets, and described by the town's residents as "very weak," the magnitude was 2.8 on the Richter scale.
This incident speaks volumes of the impact of the Ukrainian strike, even more than the spectacular photos and videos of the explosions at this warehouse.
One of the biggest explosions of the year— Ukrainian kamikaze UAV attack targeted ammunition depot in the town of Toropets, Tver region, Russia, causing a massive fire and series of explosions. — The 107th arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate (GRAU) was… pic.twitter.com/xlO0ucHNzh— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 18, 2024
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to compare the blast to a detonation of a small nuclear charge. In comparison, the 30,000 tons of explosives (declared by russians) at the 107th Arsenal would be roughly equivalent to a 30-kiloton TNT charge. The power of nuclear bombs are measured in kilotons, too.
Ukrainian media outlets, such as Ukrinform and RBC-Ukraine, citing own sources in the Security Service, claim that North Korean KN-23 and russian 9М723 (known as Iskander-M) ballistic missiles were stored at the arsenal. As of the time of writing, Ukraine hasn't issued official statements regarding the incident.
The schematic of the logistics channels leading from the 107th Arsenal of GRAU to the russian invasion forces in Ukraine / Infographics credit: the Oko Gora community on Telegram
As seen in the graphics above, this warehouse used to be an important source of resupply for the russian forces fighting the Ukrainian military incursion in the Kursk Region. Therefore, the anticipated result of this attack is a limited capabilities of the russian military to thwart the Ukrainian operations in this area.
Note how, according to the scheme, the supplies travel through belarus, once again pointing to this satellite state's involvement in the armed conflict.
This episode is also noteworthy from a historical perspective: there has been no other massive explosion like this one before — caused by conventional weapons against a pivotal ammo dump during a strategically important campaign.
We should also pay attention to the logistical scheme by which ammunition was delivered from this warehouse to its "users": part of the route runs through Belarus.
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