28 September, 2024
Shortly before its destruction, the 23rd Arsenal received ammunition from the 1562nd Separate Anti-Aircraft Repair and Maintenance Base located near the Belarusian town of Osipovichi.
This was reported by the oppositional Belarusian newspaper “Community of Railroaders of Belarus”, citing data on railroad transportation.
According to the publication, missiles for anti-aircraft missile systems were delivered to the Arsenal by rail. The total amount of cargo was 94 gondola cars with missile weapons for air defense systems in packing containers, as well as 5 cars with escorts and security.
The approximate time of departure of the groups of cars is late July – early August 2024. The cargo was classified as explosives – dangerous goods of class 1. The loading of one gondola car ranged from 20 to 30 tons.
It is noted that it had been the largest batch of ammunition from Belarus delivered to that Arsenal in 2024. Previous shipments did not exceed 12 gondola cars.
23rd Arsenal
As a reminder, the 23rd Arsenal was attacked by drones on September 21, 2024. It is located near the village of Oktyabrskoye, the Tver Oblast.
Consequences of the attack on the 23rd Arsenal. Photo credits: Radio Liberty
As a result of the attack, the facility was almost completely destroyed. In addition to the warehouses themselves, the railroad infrastructure located on the territory was also damaged.
The warehouse is located 460 km from Ukraine and covers an area of 2.6 square kilometers.
The railway on the territory of the 23rd Arsenal. Photo credits: Maxar
According to some OSINT analysts, the 23rd Arsenal could be used by the Russians to store artillery shells coming from North Korea.
Belarus has been actively transferring weapons, ammunition, and military equipment to Russian troops since the beginning of the full-scale war. Thus, according to analysts of the Belaruski Gayun group, 65,089 tons of ammunition were transported by rail from Belarus to Russia between March and September 2022.
On August 13, it became known that Alexander Lukashenko had ordered the transfer of some military equipment from Belarusian units to the Russian army. According to a source of the Belarusian media outlet Belnovosti, this is due to an urgent request from the Russian side due to losses and lack of equipment in the Kursk region and other areas.
At the same time, while in 2022 Belarus transferred ammunition and equipment from warehouses, now it is transferring them from combat units.
“Belarus has been actively transferring weapons, ammunition, and military equipment to Russian troops since the beginning of the full-scale war. Thus, according to analysts of the Belaruski Gayun group, 65,089 tons of ammunition were transported by rail from Belarus to Russia between March and September 2022.”
Taking Belarus would be at least as easy as taking the part of Kursk that Ukraine has in its possession. It could be the one using all the Belarusian equipment and ammo instead of mafia land.