Ukraine says it hit large missile depot deep inside Russia

Ukraine said it destroyed a large weapons stockpile in Russia overnight using long-range drones to stage the attack as Kyiv awaits U.S. permission to use western-made missiles in such operations.

About 100 explosive-laden unmanned aircraft destroyed a large cache of Iskander and Tochka-U missiles as well as glide bombs in Toropets, a town in the Tver region of western Russia, Ukrainian military officials familiar with the matter said. The facility was situated nearly 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Ukraine’s northern border.

NASA’s FIRMS monitoring system, which tracks fires worldwide using satellite data, recorded significant heat signatures on the outskirts of Toropets overnight.

The area corresponded to a fenced compound containing multiple hangars, as seen on satellite imagery. Bloomberg News was unable to independently verify the cause of these new heat signatures.

Russian authorities announced the evacuation of Toropets residents due to a fire caused by the falling drone debris, regional governor Igor Rudenya said in a video statement relayed via the state-owned news agency TASS.

As he spoke, sounds of multiple explosions could be heard in the background. He didn’t comment on what caused the blasts, however.

The weapons depot in Toropets was built in 2018 and is one of the Russian Defense Ministry’s largest, according to TASS. Former Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov told TASS that the arsenal would be well-protected from external impact. He was arrested on corruption charges in July.

Ukraine has stepped up its use of combat drones for long-range strikes inside Russia as it seeks to reduce Moscow’s attack capabilities.

Key western allies including the U.S. have so far denied Kyiv the right to attack targets inside Russian territory with western-made missiles, fearing an escalation of the ongoing war.

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(With assistance from Ilya Arkhipov and Vladimir Kuznetsov.)