At a distance of 700 km from Ukraine, as well as the missile arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (GRAU) in Toropka, there are a number of gigantic military warehouses where tens of tons of ammunition of the Russian army are stored.
Points of attention
- Ukraine demonstrated its capability to destroy large missile arsenals in Russia, as seen in the strike on the Toropets arsenal.
- The list of potential targets includes various GRAU arsenals spread across different regions of Russia.
- The destruction of these arsenals limits the Russian military's ability to counter operations by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
- Ukrainian attacks may target not only ammunition warehouses but also the production facilities of explosives in Russia.
- The massive drone attack on Toropets highlights the strategic significance of such operations in the ongoing conflict.
Which missile arsenals in the Russian Federation can Ukraine hit?
After the truly "earthquake cotton" in the missile arsenal in the city of Toropets, it is quite possible to ask the question: are there still such huge warehouses with ammunition in the zone of damage of Ukrainian long-range weapons.
The Defense Forces of Ukraine managed to destroy one of the main arsenals of the GRAU of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation — the "107th", which stored dozens of tons of ammunition, including ballistic missiles.
In general, there are not so many such GRAU arsenals, approximately up to two dozen for the entire Russian Federation.
But historically it happened that most of them were in the rear of the main direction of attack of the Soviet army during the Cold War against NATO, that is, in the central European, in a geographical sense, part of the Russian Federation.
What exactly was the attack on Toropets — it remains unknown for sure, although information about "Palyanytsia" is circulating. Defense Express analysts compiled a list of "fat" targets for the Defense Forces of Ukraine in Russia.
The 23rd GRAU arsenal is located only 16 km south of the already destroyed 107th arsenal near the city of Toropets. This composition is about half as small.
Further north, in the Novgorod region, near the village of Kotovo, there is the 13th arsenal of the Russian Armed Forces. It is about 680 km from the border with Ukraine, that is, 200 km further than Toropets. This warehouse has a total area of about 3 sq km.
Although a closer, but rather difficult target, due to the density of air defense, may be the 51st arsenal of GRAU to the east of Moscow near the city of Kirzhach, Vladimir region. This is a rather large warehouse with a total area of about 3.5 square kilometers. The border with Ukraine is about 530 km.
Another arsenal of GRAU in the Volodymyr region — the 73rd — near the villages of Ivanovo, Krutovo and Eseno, which can be considered the largest, because it occupies an area of about 7 square kilometers. It also underwent global repair and modernization between 2018 and 2021, just like the 107th arsenal. This may indicate that it stores not only a lot of ammunition, but also quite expensive products. It is located 650 km from the border with Ukraine.
One of the closest can be considered the 67th arsenal of GRAU near the city of Karachev, Bryansk region — 114 km. It is located close to a population of 20,000. At the same time, as of 2021, detailed satellite images show that part of the ammunition in this warehouse with a total area of about 3.5 square kilometers was stored in the open air.
The most distant, about 700 km from the front line, is the 68th GRAU arsenal near the city of Mozdok in North Ossetia. This is another updated warehouse with an area of 2.2 sq km.
This list is not exhaustive, it refers only to GRAU warehouses, and not all large warehouses with ammunition, such as, for example, the destroyed warehouse from BC near Voronezh, where there were more than 5 thousand tons of shells and missiles. It should also be taken into account that the targets of such Ukrainian attacks can be not only warehouses with ammunition, but also their production, including the production of explosives.
"Cotton" in Toropka has become a record scale
The massive drone attack of the Defense Forces of Ukraine on the night of September 18 against the arsenal in Toropka has every chance of becoming a record and going down in history.
According to official and unofficial sources, on the night of September 18, 2024, drones of the Defense Forces of Ukraine attacked an ammunition depot near the Russian city of Toropets in the Tver region.
We are talking about the 107th arsenal of the GRAU of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, at the facilities of which, according to preliminary data, up to 30 thousand tons of ammunition of various types, in particular anti-aircraft missiles, were stored, and it is possible that this is the largest warehouse of BC in the geographically "European" part of Russia.
This detonated arsenal was clearly important for fueling the racist group that opposes the Defense Forces of Ukraine in Kurshchyna. Therefore, the result of this attack should be sought precisely from this point of view — that is, in limiting the capabilities of the Russian military, which is trying to counter the operation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region.
