Explosion equivalent to earthquake: UK assesses impact of strike on depot in Toropets

The ammunition depot hit on the night of September 18 in Toropets is located 500 km from Ukraine. It was one of the largest depots in Russia, containing over 30,000 tons of shells.

According to British intelligence, the reason for the strike on the 107th arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Russia was improper storage of ammunition.

The depot was modernized in 2018 following several incidents involving explosions. One such explosion occurred in June 2011 in Pugachevo (Udmurtia), damaging 3,000 houses and leading to the evacuation of 30,000 people.

The UK Ministry of Defence explains that improper storage caused a chain reaction of cascading detonations in the bunker system, resulting in massive losses of ammunition.

"The explosion in Toropets was recorded at 2.7 on the Richter scale, equivalent to a mild earthquake, with fires covering a 6 km-wide area," the report states.

Intelligence adds that although this loss is part of a broader supply network, it is likely to disrupt Russia's ground operations, particularly in the Kursk region.

What is known about the attack on the 107th arsenal

On the night of September 18, powerful explosions were heard in the Tver region of Russia. It later became known that the 107th arsenal was attacked.

Sources told RBC-Ukraine that this was an operation by Ukrainian defenders, involving over 100 drones. The depot in Toropets stored KN23 missiles from North Korea, missiles for Iskanders and tactical missile systems Tochka-U, guided bombs, S-300 systems, and artillery ammunition.

For more details on the powerful attack and its consequences, see the RBC-Ukraine report.

It is also worth noting that today, ammunition depots in the Tver region and Krasnodar Krai were also attacked. RBC-Ukraine reports what is known about the explosive night in Russia.