Sept 18, 2024
Destruction of Russia’s Toropets ammo depot by Ukraine reduces likelihood of hypothetical Russian invasion of Baltic States and Poland
Last night, Ukrainian drones successfully attacked the so-called 107th GRAU Arsenal next to Toropets town in Russia’s Tver Oblast 480 km north of Ukraine.
The GRAU stands for the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
A source from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told several Ukrainian media that drones were operated by Ukraine’s SBU, Military Intelligence, and Special Operations Forces, and targeted the site containing missiles for Iskander and Tochka-U systems, guided KAB bombs, and artillery ammunition.
The facility is situated at the northwestern edge of the Moscow Military District. The depot covers an area of approximately 8 km² and is about 100 km from the Belarusian border and roughly 200 km from Latvia. Within 20 and 35 kilometers, there are two more facilities to store missiles.
In a sense, the depot resembles the infamous Cobasna ammo depot in Moldova’s occupied Transnistria, which served under the USSR as a primary storage facility for the southern Soviet armies, aimed at sustaining the Soviet invasion of southern Europe.
Amid ongoing threats from Russian propaganda to invade the Baltic states, Poland, and even reach Berlin, the Toropets depot stands out as one of the key facilities for supporting such a hypothetical invasion, alongside depots in the Kaliningrad and Leningrad oblasts.
Military expert Tatarigami_UA wrote on X/Twitter: “My team at Frontelligence Insight has documented that this depot actively supplied various ammo, including 122mm rockets for BM-21 Grad, 82mm shells, and 7.62 between 2022 and 2024.”
A Russian pre-war news segment about the modernization of the facility claimed each of many warehouses in the facility could store up to 240 tons of ammunition.
📷Google Maps, Wikimapia (markers show some ammo and weapon storage facilities), NASA FIRMS, TG/Operatyvnyi ZSU
Watch videos of the attack on X/Twitter: https://x.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1836336120147112029
In light of that success, the ammo dumps in Cobasna, Kaliningrad and Leningrad oblasts now need to get the same treatment.
Taking out Cobasna should not need permission from Moldova, since it is on territory that is claimed to be “independent.”
The drones would only need to overfly a small piece of Moldova airspace, but if asked, the Moldovans would probably decline.
Destroying the ammo depot in Transnistria would be a foolish thing to do. Ukraine could easily seize it instead, if it wanted to. I’d say, to hell with what Moldova says. I wouldn’t even ask them. Just do it!
“Destruction of Russia’s Toropets ammo depot by Ukraine reduces likelihood of hypothetical Russian invasion of Baltic States and Poland”
It reduces the chance of missiles attacking Ukrainian infrastructure far more than some hypothetical future conflict.
That’s what I was thinking, too. The roaches must defeat Ukraine first before even thinking about attacking another country, even a small one like Lithuania, or Estonia, or Latvia.