An ammo storage in the Tver area of western Russia was destroyed by an overnight drone strike from Ukraine, per a source from the country’s Security Service- or SBU- who spoke to CNN Wednesday.
According to the source, the Ukrainian drones targeted the storage facility in Toropets belonging to the Russian military ministry, which stores guided aerial bombs, artillery ammunition, and tactical missile systems such as Iskander and Tochka-U.
Those came after large flames from the remains of drones were rejected by local air defences, according to the regional authorities, which motivated the governor’s decision, Igor Rudenya, to order a partial evacuation of the area during the first hours of dawn on Wednesday.
The Russian state news agency TASS reported, without naming any specific targeting of a weapons complex, that a drone strike had hit the city of Toropets overnight. According to TASS, this set off a fire due to the fall of debris. CNN has authenticated audio of the loud blasts and infrastructure up in flames at the depot complex that circulated on social media.
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The affected people, including eleven children, have already been taken to communities in the neighbouring Pskov region, namely Kunya and Velikiye Luki, according to TASS. The news agency quoted Rudenya as saying there were no reports of civilian injuries due to the drone attack.
In a video message later, he added, “Now we are engaged in evacuating the population, residents, and maintaining public order,” underlining that many emergency response units were active.
Local authorities posted on their official Telegram channel that Rudenya initiated the evacuation call to let emergency personnel wholly concentrate on extinguishing the fires at the site.
The Ukrainian security source told CNN that operations of this kind are being used “methodically” to deplete Russia’s missile capability, and that preparations for other operations against “similar” Russian military sites are “proceeding.”
Toropets is about 250 miles west of Moscow and 300 miles from the Ukrainian border.
Ukraine has pushed the US, and other key allies, to clear missile strikes against targets deeper in Russian territory. Russian President Vladimir Putin last week warned NATO allies that lifting restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range missile systems would equal to engaging in war with Russia.
