2024-09-28 00:23:24
Russia’s giant ammunition depots are highly vulnerable, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). The three successful Ukrainian attacks from last week prove it. According to analysts of the Washington think tank, it is so evident that the Western restrictions on the use of weapons protect the Russian rear.
A huge explosion in the Russian military complex near Tichorecko. | Video: Reuters
On September 18 and 20, swarms of Ukrainian drones attacked the Oktyabrsky and Toropets warehouses in the Tver region and the Tichorecky warehouse in the Krasnodar region. “The fact that the Russian military still uses known logistics facilities makes them very vulnerable. Ukraine could take advantage of this if Western countries lift the restrictions they impose on it,” ISW wrote in a report on Tuesday.
The strikes were intended to destroy North Korea’s stockpiles of cruise missiles, air defense assets, rail cars and large quantities of what ISW believed to be missile containers.
According to Western analysts, Russia is said to be making little effort to conceal the location of its ammunition depots. ISW mentions a pro-Kremlin war blogger who complained about how Google Maps and the Russian search engine Yandex could locate these objects. Private space companies, in turn, provide up-to-date photos of Russian ammunition depots.
ISW noted that the images show warehouses full of military equipment and their lack of protection. The Institute for the Study of War suggests that the West’s restrictions on firing into Russian rears, which the West orders the Ukrainians to use their weapons, has allowed Moscow to resign itself to protecting those stockpiles. “This allows Russia to optimize giant rear-end storage facilities to amass significant military material on a large scale for its invasion of Ukraine,” the IWS adds.
A satellite image shows the warehouse in Toropec before the explosion | Photo: Maxar Technologies
Thus, according to ISW, Western states can reduce Russia’s ability to use military material on a large scale by allowing Ukraine to use precision long-range weapons on the aggressor’s territory. This would force the Russian command to divide ammunition depots into smaller and less efficient facilities, some of which would be further away from Ukraine.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Bloomberg that Western allies should end discussions about Russian “red lines” and allow Ukraine to strike Russian territory without restrictions. “We have to be able to give the right answer and it has to be strong,” Frederiksen said.
An even bigger problem for the Russians than expected. A crushing blow will affect aggression for weeks. (Full article with video here)
The Russian ammunition warehouse in Toropec exploded massively after the attack by Ukrainian drones. | Video: Reuters