Ukrainian forces have reportedly launched a significant UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) attack on a major Russian military storage facility containing North Korean ballistic missiles.
According to various media outlets, including AP, an anonymous Ukrainian security official indicated that the attack took place early in the morning, targeting military storage in the village of Toropets, located in Russia’s Tver region. This area is approximately 236 miles northwest of Moscow and around 311 miles from the Ukrainian border.
The source explained that the operation involved Ukraine’s Security Service and Special Operations Forces, and the storage facility contained Iskander missiles, Tochka-U missiles, glide bombs, and artillery shells. Another source added that North Korean KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles were also stored.
Following the attack, the Tver regional government reported a large fire caused by remnants of intercepted drones, leading to evacuation orders for nearby residents. The fire was substantial enough to be detected by NASA satellites. The BBC noted that the military storage facility, which suffered a series of explosive collapses, was valued at about $39 million.
According to NORSAR, a Norwegian monitoring site for earthquakes and nuclear tests, the explosions registered as a magnitude 3.2 earthquake in the vicinity. CNN reported that experts believe the videos of the explosion shared on social media match the actual location of the storage facility, estimating that it was on a similar scale as the detonation of high-performance explosives in the range of 200 to 240 tons.
Ukraine has previously requested permission to use Western-supported UAVs for attacks on Russian territory. However, after the West declined due to concerns about escalating the conflict, Ukraine began producing its own drones to strike Russia. Ukrainian authorities stated that over 100 domestically produced explosive drones were deployed in the attack on the military storage facility that day.
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