The war in Ukraine has turbocharged the development of cheap and basic drones used en masse in warfare. As another indication of just how much these drones are reshaping the modern battlefield, three major Russian ammunition storage sites have been dramatically damaged or destroyed in recent Ukrainian drone attacks deep inside Russia. (including potentially destroying the first fifth generation fighter jet and downing the first helicopter in flight ).
Chain explosion at Russian ammo storage sites Three Russian ammunition storage sites - Toropets and Oktyabrsk to the west of Moscow and Tikhoretsk in southern Russia have seen tens of thousands of tons of ammunition detonate in spectacular fashion. Notably, Toropets is believed to have stored North Korean missiles that Russia has purchased from the hermit state. Open-source analysis later assessed that as many as two-thirds of Toropets' storage sites had been destroyed, and another quarter had been damaged.
The attacks on Tikhoretsk and Okyabrsk took place on September 21, while Toropets was struck on September 18. The MoD stated over 30,000 tonnes of ordnance was stored at Toropets, while The War Zone reported over 2,000 tons of ammunition (that included more North Korean missiles) were stored at Tikhoresk. CNN stated that Okyabrsk is “ allegedly used to store Iskander tactical missile systems and Tochka-U tactical missile systems .
” Explosions at Toropets resembled the mushroom cloud of an atomic explosion and were detecte.