Drone strike on Russian ammo depot sparks partial evacuation
During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, alarm sirens wailed in Ukraine and Russia. In Toropets, Tver Oblast, one of the drones struck an ammunition depot in a local military unit. Authorities announced a partial evacuation of the town. "Well, it finally happened," can be heard in one of the videos posted online by residents of Toropets.
Russian drones are attacking Ukraine, and Ukrainian drones are attacking Russia. During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, alerts were declared in several Russian oblasts: Bryansk, Smolensk, Tula, Oryol, and Tver.
Tver Oblast borders Belarus to the west and Moscow Oblast to the south. Despite the significant distance from the Ukrainian borders, Ukrainian drones have reached this area.
That night, the drones targeted the town of Toropets, located about 25 miles from the Belarusian border. What's so interesting about this town? It has a military unit and was most likely the target of the attack.
Just after the air raid alarm was announced and the first salvos of the air defence were fired, residents noticed the glow of a fire on the town's outskirts. The fire spread quickly and was notably accompanied by the sounds of explosions.
Regional authorities immediately stated that the fire was caused by the remains of a drone shot down by air defence. However, they did not specify what was burning.
Authorities announce partial evacuation
Videos of the fire and information indicating that an ammunition depot in Toropets was on fire started appearing online.
"The governor of the oblast, Igor Rudenya, decided on a partial evacuation of residents from areas where the air defence is active and the fire is being extinguished. The situation is under control," RIA Novosti soon reported.
Russian channel Astra reported that Toropets hosts a military unit that has been attacked by drones at least twice. "Regional authorities and the Russian Ministry of Defence did not inform about this," the channel reads on Telegram.
The first time a drone attacked this military unit was on the night of May 5. At that time, a drone also crashed on its territory causing a fire. Another attack occurred early on the morning of June 29, when two drones appeared over it.
