The attack on Toropets during the night of 18 September was carried out with long-range weapons. The distance between Toropets and Ukraine is approximately 460 km. The target was reportedly a large arms depot.
According to a 2018 report by the state news agency RIA, Russia built an arsenal for storing missiles, ammunition, and explosives in Toropets, a town of just over 11,000 inhabitants. Russian state media suggested at the time that it was a large arsenal of conventional weapons.
The site was used to store Grad, S-300, S-400, Iskander, and KN23 missiles, according to Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation (CCD), writes RBC Ukraine.
Reuters reports that it was a Ukrainian drone attack that triggered a fire and required a partial evacuation of residents in the Russian Tver region.
🇷🇺 ESCALATION? Ukrainian Missiles Strike Deep into Russia
Six Ukrainian missiles targeted a Russian military unit in Toropets, Tver Oblast, northwest of Moscow, towards St. Petersburg. Three Ukrainian drones were intercepted by Russian air defenses, but the remaining missiles… pic.twitter.com/NHXixuhwnD
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) September 18, 2024
RIA writes that the regional governor Igor Rudenya decided to partially evacuate the population from the place where the air defense forces are working to extinguish the fires. The Ukrainian defense forces try to attack objects in Russia’s border and central regions with drones almost daily.
DD Geopolitics writes that six Ukrainian ‘missiles’ were aimed at a Russian military unit in Toropets, Tver Oblast, northwest of Moscow. Three were shot down by Russian air defenses, but the remaining ones hit their targets, causing a large fire and explosion in an ammunition depot.
Ukraine and NATO are now waiting for a response from Russia.
