Russian Ammunition Warehouse Destroyed in Massive Explosion

A Russian ammunition warehouse has been destroyed by Ukrainian strikes as the war between the two countries continues, reports say.

According to footage posted on X, formerly Twitter, on June 23, Ukraine struck an ammunition storage point in Kursk, which is close to the Ukrainian border, causing an explosion. The video was posted by OSINT Aggregator, an X account that aggregates open-source intelligence.

The account said the “massive” explosion that followed “essentially erased” the targeted location.

Anton Gerashchenko, a former adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, posted the same footage on X, writing: “Ukrainian strike on a storage of equipment and ammunition of the Russian army in Kursk region of Russia. Wow.”

Newsweek was unable to verify the video and has contacted the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for comment by email.

Sunday, local media reported that Ukraine’s military also struck a command post of a Russian rifle regiment in the village of Nekhoteyevka, located in Russia’s Belgorod region near the Russian-Ukrainian border. In its reporting, the Kyiv Independent cited a Telegram post by the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, which Newsweek was unable to verify.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that one person was killed and three injured in Russia’s Belgorod region when three Ukrainian drones attacked the city of Grayvoron. The outlet cited regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov in its report.

It is not the first time Kursk has been targeted by Ukraine. In March, the Freedom of Russia Legion, a pro-Ukrainian Russian militia unit, said its fighters had destroyed two of Moscow’s ammunition warehouses in the same region.

“While Putin’s army is destroying civilian homes, Legion artillerymen destroyed 2 ammunition depots of Putin’s combat in Tetkino at once,” the group wrote on X at the time. “It burns beautifully.”

Several raids were also launched on the Belgorod region in 2023, and one of the group’s volunteers, Alexei Baranovsky, told Newsweek last summer that such attacks were proof that Putin’s military is stretched thin.

“The reaction of the Russian government and the armed forces on the rebel invasion to the Belgorod region was not weak,” he said in June 2023. “On the contrary, Putin’s army is trying its best.”

Ukraine, too, has been subjected to missile attacks by Russia. Saturday, a series of attacks killed at least eight people in the country, Russian politicians reported.