Le Monde newspaper said that an air attack launched by the Ukrainian army using new cruise missiles led to the destruction of a large number of long-range Russian weapons, and Newsweek magazine described the explosion resulting from the attack as possibly the biggest event in the war waged by Russia on Ukraine.
Le Monde explained – in a report by its correspondents in Moscow, Emmanuel Grynszpan and Benjamin Quenell – that the Ukrainians destroyed a huge ammunition depot near the town of Toropets in the Tver region at dawn on Wednesday, noting that the Russian army's 107th arsenal, which stores 240 tons of ammunition, was the one that was exposed to projectiles fired by the Ukrainian army from positions 500 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border.
The Ukrainian President praised Volodymyr Zelensky In his evening video address, Zelenskyy reported the result of the attack without specifically mentioning the target. “A very important result was achieved last night on Russian territory and such actions weaken the enemy. I thank everyone who took part in this. This precision is truly inspiring,” Zelensky said.
Unconfirmed images on social media show a huge ball of flames following the strike on the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate arsenal in Toropets, about 240 miles west of Moscow, and several subsequent explosions, Newsweek reported.
Le Monde described the explosions as so powerful that they were detected by seismic monitoring systems, with the first tremors recording a magnitude of 2.8 on the Richter scale. Richter scaleNewsweek estimated the force of the ammunition depot explosion at about 1.8 kilotons of TNT.
Reuters reported that the satellites NASA Industrialists recorded intense heat sources emanating from an area of about 14 square kilometres (5 square miles) at the explosion site in the early morning hours, and seismic monitoring stations noted what sensors believed to be a small earthquake.
A source in the Ukrainian Security Service told the Kyiv Independent newspaper – according to Newsweek – that Ukrainian drones “literally wiped off the face of the earth a large warehouse of the main missile and artillery department” used by the Russians, adding that there are plans for similar attacks on other Russian military facilities.
Targeting vital facilities
The massive mushroom cloud rising into the air was widely documented by numerous videos filmed by residents and Russian soldiers, according to Le Monde. While Russian authorities reported that 17 people were injured, a video filmed around 8 a.m. shows dozens of houses with their windows shattered.
The sounds of explosions continued, indicating – according to the newspaper – that the situation in the warehouse remained out of control several hours after the attack. Satellite images published by the private American space company Maxar also showed that the forest adjacent to the warehouse continued to burn for part of the day.
The newspaper believed that the unprecedented means used by the Ukrainian army had a definite relationship with the extent of the damage, and said that more than 100 drones participated in the operation, according to a military source in Kiev, noting that many of the videos clearly heard the distinctive whistling sound of jet engines, indicating that the attack was carried out, at least in part, with cruise missiles.
Newsweek concluded that Ukraine, without directly claiming responsibility, has intensified its attacks deep inside Russian territory, targeting military installations vital to Moscow, noting that the Ukrainian Defense Ministry says, “We do not comment on what is happening in Russia.”