On Wednesday, September 18th, a Ukrainian drone allegedly attacked a large military arsenal in the Tver region of Russia, triggering a massive explosion and forcing some residents nearby to evacuate.
According to reports from Reuters, unconfirmed videos and images on social media showed a huge fireball rising into the night sky near Toropets in the western part of the Tver region, with the explosion echoing like thunder throughout the night.
Satellites from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) captured several signal sources emanating from the area early Wednesday morning, while sensors from seismic monitoring stations indicated a minor earthquake in the region.
The Governor of Tver Oblast, Igor Rudenya, posted on the state government’s Telegram channel that the wreckage of a Ukrainian drone had sparked a fire, with firefighters working to control the blaze.
Professor George William Herbert, an expert in nuclear weapons from Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, stated that the scale of the explosion shown in unverified social media videos is consistent with the detonation of 200 to 240 tons of high explosives.
In a report from the Russian news agency in 2018, it was mentioned that Russia was constructing a military arsenal in Toropets, Tver Oblast, to store missiles, ammunition, and explosives, describing it as a large conventional arms depot.
Toropets is located approximately 380 kilometers northwest of Moscow, and about 470 kilometers from the Russia-Ukraine border. It is a small town with a population of over 11,000 and a history spanning a millennium.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not provide specific comments on the incident but mentioned that 54 Ukrainian drones had targeted five areas in western Russia overnight, with all drones being destroyed.
State governors reported that these attacks did not cause any damage or casualties, and there was no information on any personnel injuries.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not confirm the assault on the military arsenal in its report or mention Tver Oblast. Russian authorities seldom disclose the specific damages caused by Ukrainian attacks.
A report from the Ukrainian Kyiv Post cited Governor Rudenya, stating that a Ukrainian drone targeted an ammunition warehouse in Tver, causing a fire and explosion in Toropets.
The report indicated that the warehouse stored 122mm rockets for the BM-21 “Grad” rocket launcher, 82mm mortars, and other ammunition. The arsenal had been targeted twice by Ukrainian drones in May and June this year.
Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, released a video on the Telegram platform showing the explosion in Toropets and commented that “Russia’s demilitarization is necessary to end terrorism.”
Kyiv had previously stated that its attacks on Russia aimed to disrupt military, energy, and transportation infrastructure, which are crucial for Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine.
As Ukraine has scaled up its domestic drone production over the past two years, attacks within Russia have also increased.
In September, Ukraine launched its largest-ever drone attack on the Russian capital, resulting in at least one fatality, destruction of houses, and disruption of flights at Moscow airports.