Factbox: What We Know About the Ukrainian Attack in Russia’s Tver Region

A significant drone attack by Ukraine in Russia resulted in a massive explosion and prompted the partial evacuation of residents near a large munitions depot in the Tver region on Wednesday, as reported by war bloggers and various media outlets.

Here are the key details:

– The attack unleashed powerful explosions and sparked a fire in Toropets, a historic town with a population of just over 11,000, located approximately 250 miles west of Moscow.

– Firefighters were engaged in efforts to control the blaze, with the governor of the Tver region, Igor Rudenya, providing updates via the region’s official messaging channel. The specific cause of the fire was not disclosed.

– Unverified footage circulating on social media depicted a massive fireball shooting into the night sky, accompanied by loud detonations reverberating near a lake in the region, which lies northwest of Moscow and close to the Belarus border.

– Data from NASA satellites detected multiple heat sources at the site earlier in the day, while earthquake monitoring stations registered what appeared to be a minor quake in the vicinity.

– According to a report from a state news agency in 2018, Russia had been establishing an arsenal for storing missiles, ammunition, and explosives in Toropets. The facility was constructed in 2015 at a cost of approximately 3.6 billion roubles (around $39 million).

– The arsenal features both cold and heated storage rooms, electrical substations, water treatment facilities, and numerous fire ponds. It was officially commissioned in 2018, as reported by the then-deputy defense minister, Dmitry Bulgakov, who was recently arrested on corruption charges, which he has denied.

– Bulgakov previously asserted that the facility is designed for the reliable and safe storage of military supplies, capable of withstanding air and missile attacks, as well as the effects of a nuclear explosion.

– He also mentioned that each storage building could hold up to 240 tons of materials, and the arsenal can accommodate around 200 servicemen.

The situation is still developing, and further updates are expected as more information becomes available.