Guess it is possible that these targets are being hit by drones but seems unlikely unless 1. Shear incompetence in storage 2. Major advances in drones 3. Russian anti aircraft systems dysfunctional..or maybe all of the above. Are there ATG systems that f16's could have deployed that US finally allowed UKR to use that may be in play here? If this was possible via drone, why has it taken so long to occur and it happens shortly after Z pleads for freedom to use weapons to attack inside Russia?
Nothing would please me more than to learn that these explosions were caused by our weapons, but I don’t think that’s the case. Both the U.S. and Russia would have to know by now that these strikes were done with NATO weapons, and both countries would have to be pretending otherwise for reasons that are not clear. For the moment, I but the Ukrainian story that the strikes were done by their own drones.
Russia still has a significant manufacturing capacity for weapons and ammunition, but it will be under increased pressure to increase output. And with that, there should be a decrease in quality (more than what has already been seen during this war). It may not be "North Korean bad", but it should be worse than what they're used to.
More on the successful strike at Toropitz on the munitions depot there. One of Putin’s vaunted “Satan” missiles may have been destroyed. Ukrainian kamikaze drone strikes 'struck Putin's Satan-2 nuclear missiles' - prompting huge explosion | Daily Mail Online
Russia lost 60 million pounds of explosives according to the article, or enough for 750,000 artillery shells. An Estonian colonel says this amounts to 2-3 months worth of munitions for Russia. Putin needs to learn that if he plays with fire, he's gonna get burned. I think Zelenskyy should start suggesting that Ukraine would be willing to consider Russia's surrender before he blows up another 2-3 months' worth of munitions. I wonder if the drone attack was launched from Kursk.
No idea, but I doubt it. The drones are already long-range systems, and the Kursk salient does not give them that much more range. The range advantage that land provides is with their long-range artillery like the MLRS (not including ATACMS). That allowed them to shut down several airfields and logistics hubs around the city of Kursk that were out of range previously. Personally, I would have been impressed if Ukraine could have sustained this incursion for two weeks, and now we’re approaching two months with no end in sight. If the current momentum continues, then Ukraine will hold the ground through winter AND Russia will fail to take Pokrovsk before the weather makes a continued push impractical. I guess everything for Putin really does hinge on a U.S. Presidential election that looks increasingly like it’s going to go against him.
Roads near Toropets and its munitions depot are still closed three days later, possibly for fear of further explosions. They may be evacuating any unexploded ordinance, also, and do not want Ukraine to figure out where it's going. Russia halts traffic on highway in Tver region for safety reasons, agencies report
The footage of those explosions is...... Impressive......as in low yield nuke impressive. Whatever the Ukranians are doing, we'll it's working, this MUST, have an immediate impact on artillery shell distribution to Russian forces, at least temporarily.
Well, I certainly hope so. We will see. With a touch of luck those were artillery shells, glide bombs, and ballistic missiles that went sky high. Of course, it’s just as possible, for all I know, that the Ukrainians mainly hit storage for naval weapons. If so, they may have taken out a large load of torpedos and won’t have much of an effect at all.
That’s possible, and I don’t fully understand the life cycle of ordnance, but my guess is that foreign procured munitions go straight to the battle area rather than into depot-level storage. If it was NK ordnance, though, you know it was stuff detailed for use in Ukraine. So much the better.
I don’t doubt any of that to be true but they likely need logistics hubs to receive, temporarily store, sort, and send to various areas along the front.
so that is now three major depots that have been blown up. that is significant. I just wonder why this hasn't happened sooner. Is this new drone tech they are deploying or ???
fyi, Peru trip report started in the pub. about 2/3 of the trip pics at link below. Loved Peru, lot of Venezuelans have migrated there Peru Print | Flickr Peru Trip Report - Cusco and Lima | Swamp Gas Forums (gatorcountry.com)
More outstanding information and analysis from Jake, much of which answers some of the recent questions in this thread. According to this video, yes. The Ukrainians are employing a new kind of “jet drone,” which is presumably faster, more stealthy, and has greater punching power. According to this video, you were spot on. One of the depots was being used to stage DPRK munitions, and much of it is now destroyed. As Jake points out, this is insult to injury because Russia has already paid for this ordnance, one way or another, and now they cannot use it. Apparently, I was also correct in my earlier post that postulated the target was large stockpiles of munitions in the open versus inside the bunkers. That would explain why the Ukrainians decided to target when they did and how they managed to achieve such magnificent effects without bunker-busting bombs dropped from high altitude. Also, the pattern-of-life analysis at these depots must have been pretty thorough. Speculation my own: we convinced the Ukrainians to stop targeting Russian oil refineries by offering them these targets instead. According to this video, the Russians have lost three months worth of front-line expenditures based on the daily utilization rate, which is massive. Yes, that’s going to hurt.
Notwithstanding a spectacular explosion, Russia loses roughly TWELVE hours of munitions at Toropets. Ironically (sarcasm) it’s the US that’s running out of weapons …
“Hit me again! Hit me again!” — U.S.— The first thing to know about Western sanctions on Russia since February 2022 is that they are unprecedented. The second thing to know is that they haven’t worked … https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-u-s-hurt-itself-with-russia-sanctions/
