Ukrainian armed forces have again struck Russian missile depots three days after they shook the earth by destroying another strategic silo. Ukrainian weapons – it is not known whether they were drones or their new Palianytsia and Neptune missiles – have damaged two depots: one in the Tver region, not far from the depot hit last Wednesday near the town of Toropets, more than 200 kilometres north-west of Moscow, and another in the southern province of Krasnodar. In the latter territory another target with enormous symbolic value has also been hit: the former base of the Wagner mercenary group.
The attacks have been confirmed by Russian authorities and militaristic media. The Russian Ministry of Defense said in its daily report that its forces shot down 101 Ukrainian drones in this latest wave, 18 of them “intercepted or destroyed” in Krasnodar and three in Tver.
The Telegram channel VChK-OGPU, which is close to the Russian military, has claimed that Ukrainian shells hit “a secret facility” in the village of Otkyabrski, near Toropets, belonging to the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Russian forces store up to 45,000 tons of ammunition in that arsenal, including Iranian Fatah 360 missiles and North Korean KN-23 rockets, according to journalist and former Russian Duma member Alexander Nevzarov.
Several witnesses told VChK-OGPU that the explosions “began at night and continued into the morning.” “Huge mushrooms of fire rose from the ground” and the military vehicles “were on fire,” the channel reported. According to its sources, the entire depot did not explode as happened in Toropets, whose destruction caused tremors of magnitude 2.8. “The stored missiles would destroy tens of kilometers around if they exploded,” the channel noted after confirming that nearby villages had been evacuated.
Wednesday’s operation destroyed “two to three months’ worth” of Russian ammunition at the front, according to Estonian military intelligence chief Colonel Ants Kiviselg. He estimated that 750,000 Russian shells evaporated on that occasion, when Russia fires about 10,000 rounds a week.
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Saturday’s attack in Tver has caused transport chaos across the region for hours. Trains linking the country’s two largest cities, Moscow and St Petersburg, were cancelled or diverted via secondary routes with significant delays, while the M-9 motorway, the road connecting the Russian capital and Latvia, was closed to traffic for safety reasons.
In parallel, another Ukrainian operation hit the town of Kammeni in the Krasnodar region, on the Black Sea coast east of Crimea. The governor of the province, Veniamin Kondratiev, stated on his social networks that two drones “were destroyed by air defence and electronic warfare systems”. However, he also added that “due to the fall of the remains of one of them, a fire broke out which spread to explosive objects. The detonation began.”
The authorities have evacuated the area around the military depot. The mayor of the municipality, Anatoly Perepelin, has called on the citizens to remain calm and has reminded them that it is strictly forbidden to film Ukrainian drones and Russian anti-aircraft systems. “It is important to rely only on official sources of information,” the mayor stressed.
Wagner base on fire
The third Ukrainian attack on Saturday hit what was once the main base of Russia’s most notorious mercenary group. Its Telegram channel, Wagner Orchestra, has released images of its Molkino headquarters in Krasnodar, on fire.
The unit announced that its base would “officially cease to exist” following the failed mutiny of its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in the summer of 2023. Although its troops were relocated within the army, the facilities remain operational a year later, as are cemeteries in neighboring towns, where thousands of front-line dead lie and their number continues to grow.
The Molkino base has now been adopted by the re-established Afrika Korps, a unit of veterans of the mercenary group subordinate to the Ministry of Defense, the Wagner Orchestra reported on Telegram. The group, whose name is copied from the corps led by Nazi general Erwin Rommel in World War II, does not theoretically operate in Ukraine, but in African countries such as Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, the Central African Republic and Niger.
“The orchestra is no longer based here, but for all those who follow the adventures of the Russian volunteers, this place is sacred,” the mercenary group warned, while also being critical of the Russian high command: “As always, our enemies cannot defeat us. We will lose everything ourselves.”
