Drones hit key military depot in Russia
KYIV, UKRAINE •Ukrainian drones struck a large military depot in a town deep inside Russia overnight, causing a huge fire and forcing some residents to evacuate, a Ukrainian official and Russian news reports said Wednesday. At least 13 people were injured, Russia’s Health Ministry added.
Meanwhile, a senior U.S. diplomat said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has a workable plan to end the war, now in its third year, although its details have not been publicly disclosed.
Ukraine claimed the strike destroyed military warehouses in Toropets, a town in Russia’s Tver region about 380 kilometres northwest of Moscow and about 500 km from the border with Ukraine.
The attack was carried out by Ukraine’s Security Service, along with Ukraine’s Intelligence and Special Operations Forces, a Kyiv security official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the operation.
According to the official, the depot housed Iskander and Tochka-u missiles, as well as glide bombs and artillery shells.
He said the facility caught fire in the strike and was burning across an area 6 km wide.
Among the destroyed ammunition were North Korean KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles, another official, in Ukraine’s Intelligence Office, told AP. He also was not authorized to comment publicly and didn’t provide evidence to support his claim.
Russia and North Korea signed a landmark pact in June that envisioned mutual military assistance between Moscow and Pyongyang.
More than 100 domestically produced exploding drones were deployed in the attack on the depot, the Ukrainian intelligence official added.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted regional authorities as saying air defence systems were working to repel a “massive drone attack” on Toropets, which has a population of about 11,000.