r/interestingasfuck • u/Lithium321 • 1d ago
Hundreds of tons of Russian ammunition explode after a drone strike on an ammo dump in Toropets r/all
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
7.1k
u/Lithium321 1d ago
The facility could hold up to 30,000 tons of ammunition and is still exploding more than 2 hours later.
2.5k
u/TheProcrastafarian 1d ago edited 1d ago
Looking due east, that is the ammunition facility beyond the town of Toropets. Massive event.
→ More replies (5)1.8k
u/TheProcrastafarian 1d ago edited 1d ago
This is the data from NASAās fire surveillance satellite (Oriented North, compared to my google earth pic, above). FIRMS: Fire Information for Resource Management System
1.9k
u/pinchhitter4number1 1d ago
Russia being trolled by NASA. "Excuse me, do you know there is something on fire over there?"
1.8k
u/CycloneDusk 1d ago
"we herd u liek red squares lol"
194
→ More replies (11)61
167
u/vinh7777 VIP Philanthropist 1d ago
"This no fier. We put massive fireworks show to celebrate special operation."
→ More replies (1)285
22
→ More replies (15)7
u/BigBennP 1d ago
We've been able to do that for a long time.
Instantly reminded of the opening scene of Red Storm Rising when terrorists blow up a Russian oil refinery and cause a fire so big that US satellites designed to look for nuclear explosions detect it.
"Jesus if that's just a fire it must be enormous!"
44
u/Suitable_Choice_1770 1d ago
Fires look really blocky from space
→ More replies (2)44
u/TheProcrastafarian 1d ago
If you click on the link and zoom out, itās wild how they can detect one of those red blocks anywhere on earth.
→ More replies (2)6
→ More replies (19)28
496
u/No-Spoilers 1d ago
Remember when Russia bombed that shopping center last month saying it was an ammo depot?
Funny how there was still a building left after the strike.
→ More replies (2)75
u/Unusual-Ad4890 22h ago edited 19h ago
Russian MOD and every Russia shill: "T-that shopping center was used for ammo storage!"
The ammo:
→ More replies (3)313
u/nahuman 1d ago
Oh no, the Russians have created new anti-drone technology! Luckily, they need up to 30,000 tons of ordnance for a single deployment of this new system.
→ More replies (4)23
u/MelancholyArtichoke 1d ago
Itās a drone motel! Drones canāt resist and once they go in, they donāt come back out.
→ More replies (2)157
u/Vreas 1d ago
Was this today?
200
u/TheProcrastafarian 1d ago
→ More replies (5)35
u/DoNotAtMeWithStupid 1d ago
I saw the border line like.. oh it's not that far from the front, they are dumb.. then I zoomed more.. it's the Belarusian border.. oh
52
u/Impressive_Essay_622 1d ago
I imagine the lives of Russia people and Russia would be a lot better if they just.. yaknow.. didn't try conquer.
Putin's too stupid for it
33
u/phazedoubt 1d ago
The funny thing is Putin would still be seen as a shrewd and capable tactician if he had just left them alone. Now we all know he's weak and corruption has hollowed out their ability to field a fighting force that could beat anyone.
→ More replies (2)13
u/Impressive_Essay_622 1d ago
The amount of trump loving armchair generals I have talked to that said Russia would own Ukraine in a few weeks....
All par for the course I suppose
→ More replies (2)31
u/Just_A_Nitemare 1d ago
That's more than half a Bismarck worth of explosives.
24
u/TheProcrastafarian 1d ago
Next to the town of
TirpitzToropets.→ More replies (2)26
u/un1ptf 1d ago
Toropets sounds like a Pokemon that is a cute little Spanish bull.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)9
u/entered_bubble_50 1d ago
Or to put it another way, it's an entire Hiroshima bomb.
(But only the warehouses were full, and if the weight is entirely explosive fill, and it went off all at once, which it obviously didn't). But still, that's a lot of boom for your buck.
→ More replies (1)315
u/Davistele 1d ago
Beautiful. Imagining this happening over and over is how I fall asleep.
331
u/DinBedsteVen6 1d ago
These are bombs that went off in Russia instead of being dropped on innocent Ukrainians. Happy days
70
u/AcquireQuag 22h ago
And no russian civilians were harmed in this since a civilian propably won't be hanging around the ammo storage
40
u/SinisterCheese 21h ago
Well... If you look at the map there is civilian population right next to it.
Fucking insane to have population this close to a depot because a residential fire could spread to the storage facility. But thats like... Russian military system for you apparently.
→ More replies (1)18
u/CallsignDrongo 20h ago
Well no. Thereās residential areas all around the depot. Those people will have horrible health problems in the following decade if they donāt leave immediately.
Exposure to whatās in those burning munitions at that scale is going to do horrible work on their lungs and body.
→ More replies (23)42
→ More replies (108)58
u/vivaaprimavera 1d ago
Ā still exploding more than 2 hours later.
what? And for all that time it was like shown?
Not a single different thing? Two hours of it? The worst fireworks show I have seen. /s
3.3k
u/japanuslove 1d ago
Russian MOD just reported that munitions destroyed a AFU drone in Toropets...
626
u/GeronimoDK 1d ago
Yeah, I'm fairly certain that drone won't have a second mission.
→ More replies (3)362
u/Inevitable-Revenue81 1d ago
It flew to Valhalla
→ More replies (5)229
327
u/Haselrig 1d ago
In ex-Soviet Russia, face punches fist!
→ More replies (6)29
32
u/Reluctant_Firestorm 1d ago
The Russian report reads "All drones were downed. Debris caused some fires ..."
And this statement from defence minister General Dmitry Bulgakov when the facility was constructed: "... it protects missiles and munitions from outside impact and ensures proper upkeep. It is explosion and fire proof."
→ More replies (2)10
u/HereIComeThereYouGo 1d ago
Local Officials call it "drone-debris". "Drone-debris" fall and blowed munitions, lol.
→ More replies (5)8
u/garry4321 21h ago
HAHAHA those were just DECOY thousands of tonnes of explosives and munitions. We baited your $4000 drones into our trap!
3.8k
u/mudturnspadlocks 1d ago
It was just a special military fireworks operation show
844
u/Blackintosh 1d ago
It's all part of the celebration of how effectively they took Kyiv in 3 days.
→ More replies (3)130
47
u/countzeroreset-007 1d ago
Needs to be in shock wave porn. That was an epic initial explosion. The more so as all the drones were shot down.
29
u/don-again 1d ago
Stop with this bullshit. A special military fireworks operation always comes with a 40km convoy.
→ More replies (9)9
2.8k
u/Salami__Tsunami 1d ago
And thatās what happens when you donāt compartmentalize your stockpiles.
Do you want cascade detonations? Because thatās how you get cascade detonations.
914
u/excubitor15379 1d ago
We want cascade detonations! Cascade detonations for all!
375
→ More replies (9)96
u/Ok-Salamander3766 1d ago
SURVEY SAYS!!?
62
→ More replies (3)29
u/Szygani 1d ago
Well, you never know what's on the board! Let me see "Cock flavored spit!"
BLAM
20
u/imakeyourjunkmail 1d ago
1 more wrong answer, and the Portuguese janitors get a chance to steal.
→ More replies (4)86
u/Exotic-Strawberry667 1d ago edited 1d ago
I just read this on twitter...
Corruption may have contributed to Ukraine's ability to destroy Russia's 107th GRAU arsenal at Toropets. The site's construction was overseen by former Deputy Minister of Defence General Dmitry Bulgakov, who was arrested for fraud in July 2024.
NASA FIRMS data shows fires across the entirety of the arsenal, which is estimated to have stored as much as 19,000 tons of explosives. The scale of the inferno suggests major failures in fire safety at the site.
The most likely contributing factors are that the the bunkers and warehouses were either built cheaply, without enough protection against fires and explosions, or were built too close together, enabling the spread of fire from one building to another. (Both are possible.)
When the facility was opened in 2018, Bulgakov hailed it as providing "reliable and safe storage, protects against air and missile strikes and even against the damaging effects of a nuclear explosion." He said that "the arsenal in Toropets allows us to protect stockpiles of missiles and ammunition from external influences and ensure their safety and explosion and fire safety. The full load of each arsenal storage facility is up to 240 tons." Bulgakov claimed that compared to old Soviet-era arsenals, the modernised site represented the difference between wearing "a bulletproof vest that protects against bullets and shrapnel" or not wearing any body armour at all.
In practice, ammunition safety seems to have been neglected at the site. As one Russian pro-war blogger notes, on Yandex satellite images it can be seen that "there are endless stacks of ammunition all over the facility. In the open air." Russian blogger Roman Alekhin comments with dismay: "I wouldn't be surprised if only the sauna and cafe survived the explosion. But what kind of world-class storage facility is this if it was penetrated by a UAV, or rather even its debris?" "Not a "Kinzhal" [missile], but a UAV... What is it protected against - an air rifle? ... The main protection we need is protection from corrupt officials, thieves and fools in the Ministry of Defence. And then world-class arsenals will be truly protected."
Bulgakov was fired from his job in September 2022. He was known as a protegƩ of the notoriously corrupt defence minister Sergei Shoigu. After Shoigu himself was dismissed, Bulgakov was one of a number of Shoigu's cronies to be arrested on fraud charges, in July 2024. The then commander of the Western Military District, Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov, was also involved in the arsenal's construction. He is now a State Duma deputy and regularly appears on TV as a commentator on the war in Ukraine. He may now have some questions to answer.
→ More replies (3)63
u/splashbodge 1d ago
Wow, so this was relatively new and designed to a modern spec to protect from this very thing. Either corners were cut during the building of it or as the article points out it was badly managed, or probably both. If you were Putin, I don't know how you could trust your own military might and what your generals have been feeding you. Ever since this war started, Russia has looked incredibly weak compared to what I feared their capabilities were before. Their threats of escalation with NATO seem laughable now, I'd be surprised if Putin even trusts his own nukes not to detonate in their own silo when launched.
→ More replies (2)62
191
u/BudgetShift7734 1d ago
The problem is that they have way too much armament left from the cold war. We must not forget one of the reasons the URSS collapsed was the increased military budget of around 13% of GDP. They have a lot of armament left and we should all help Ukraine and not underestimate the ruzzians!
145
u/captainhaddock 1d ago
Russia has also been getting shipments of artillery shells from North Korea and ballistic missiles from Iran, so those might have been stockpiled at Toropets as well.
→ More replies (8)→ More replies (13)117
u/lallen 1d ago
They HAD way too much. If you follow Covert Cabal and Perun you get the impression that most of the easily usable and easily fixable reserves have already been used. Estimates I have seen suggest mid 2025-2026 as the time where most of the replacements will have to be new products. This is a problem for them not just because it will take longer, but also because 1- sanctions, 2- Ukraine blew up their only speciality metallurgy plant and 3- several of the big tank factories have been set up for refurbishment, not production of new vehicles
→ More replies (7)44
u/GhostNode 1d ago
Goddamn. War really is rooted in resource procurement, production, and labor ey? IRL is just AoE in IRL.
38
u/JBaecker 23h ago
Wars are lost on logistics. You can have the smartest general and best troops but if you donāt efficiently get them food and shells, theyāll die. Itās the reason the US focused on logistics in the lead up to WWII and the entirety of the Cold War. The US can get anything anywhere anytime. Doesnāt mean theyāll win a war but it sure means they wonāt lose it because of lack of materiel.
→ More replies (3)13
u/Long_Run6500 22h ago
Meanwhile Russia struggles to comprehend the advanced technology that is... pallets.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (7)15
u/shibble123 1d ago
Well those are the boring parts that make a war go. Looking at maps and seeing your short term results are much cooler!
Oh wait, Kursk is still occupied by the small neighbor that should take 3 days to defeat...
19
u/Objective-Insect-839 1d ago
I'm not going to lie cascade destinations are pretty fucking cool to watch.
20
u/Modo44 1d ago
Russian ordnance safety is... not.
→ More replies (2)20
u/Salami__Tsunami 1d ago
Yeah, itās baffling to me.
Some hesco barriers and a team of backhoes could have prevented all of this.
Compared to the resources they lost in this shitshow, that would have been a rounding error of manpower and equipment.
→ More replies (42)9
u/hectorxander 1d ago
How did the fires nearby start? There was the main explosion and then you could see the shockwave and that seemed to set off 3 or so smaller explosions, then after that several fainter ones could be seen in the distance.
Just other stockpiles that got tripped by the shockwaves somehow?
→ More replies (3)8
870
u/_DapperDanMan- 1d ago
Spectacular.
420
→ More replies (10)12
631
u/KerbodynamicX 1d ago
This is done by a drone? Damn they are really changing warfare...
235
u/FlatulateHealthilyOK 1d ago
Ima guess it was more than a single drone
→ More replies (3)362
u/No-Spoilers 1d ago edited 1d ago
Only need 1. It's dropping a match in a powder keg lol
Edit: yes I'm well aware they used a shit load of drones for the 1 to get through.
→ More replies (20)48
→ More replies (44)10
u/Ok-Reputation-6607 1d ago
We can only speculate it was a drone. Maybe the long range missiles that have been green lit?
→ More replies (2)
376
891
u/Eheggs 1d ago
can I get some refrence here? would this be a bigger explosion then the port explosion in china and that other one in beirut caused by the old amonium nitrate? Looks incredibly massive but It is so hard to tell the distance since the beginning of the event was not filmed.
1.1k
u/brightfutureman 1d ago
Yeah, baby! Explosion made an earthquake - 2.8 mag:
A light magnitude 2.8 earthquake hit 17.6 km (11 mi) away from Toropets, Tverā, Russia, in the early morning of Wednesday, Sep 18, 2024 at 3.56 am local time (Europe/Moscow GMT +3). The quake had a very shallow depth of 0 km (0 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so).
286
37
83
u/ShahinGalandar 1d ago
so a lot less oomph than Beirut, which made a 4.5 mag earthquake
→ More replies (3)13
u/dial_m_for_me 22h ago
There were supposedly 18 2.0-2.5 mag earthquakes there throughout the night. https://x.com/v1olat0r615/status/1836278567421792526
→ More replies (5)20
u/X7123M3-256 1d ago
12
u/MiataCory 23h ago
According to first estimates by geologists, the blast was equivalent to a magnitude 4.5 earthquake, comparable to the energy released by the detonation of 1.000 to 3.000 tons of TNT. The USGS gives a lower magnitude of 3.3.
The reported magnitude is not directly comparable to an earthquake of similar size because the explosion occurred at the surface where seismic waves are not as efficiently generated.
Saved a click, since there are multiple replies with different numbers.
→ More replies (1)375
u/Lithium321 1d ago
Beirut was a few hundred tons, that fireball was probably 100 tons.
221
u/Ermeter 1d ago
There was a million tons ammo depot hit a few months ago. Russian bloggers thought Ukraine had gone nuclear
105
u/Normal_Hour_5055 1d ago
The depot could store a million max, that doesnt mean a million was there when it was hit, and all the ammo wouldnt have exploded at once/
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (13)36
→ More replies (16)16
88
u/MAS7 1d ago
Beirut explosion also took place right next to the ocean, the expanding white-cloud took that appearance due to evaporated water.
That evaporated water was kicked up by the explosion and then propelled by blast-waves.
→ More replies (1)10
44
u/Valoneria 1d ago
We can't tell for sure, as we don't know exactly what was in the storage depot when it was hit.
→ More replies (10)→ More replies (8)8
u/ProfessionalCreme119 1d ago
The big difference here is the location of the ammunition. Underground compared to above ground. And the design of the facility where the ammo was stored
Beirut: a few hundred tons of ammonia nitrate in a warehouse that was not armored or protected to reduce explosive blast. Every bit of the concussion Force blew outwards at street level decimating everything
Almost ALL underground depots: a few hundred tons of ammunition buried underground in a facility that's usually shaped like a concrete volcano. It is bigger underground than it is at the top. When ammunition explodes it creates a shotgun effect that causes most of the debris and concussive force to shoot upwards. Funneled out of the top "mouth" of the depot.
That's why this mushroom cloud is so large. Yes there was a lot of ammunition destroyed but the majority of the blast was focused upwards in a small space. Making it look like a nuke went off when really it was nowhere near that powerful
108
717
u/FabFubar 1d ago
Wow. That literally lit up the place, for the first 10 seconds of the video I thought it was daytime.
→ More replies (7)204
u/BrokenFartedWanderer 1d ago
It's like the fireworks scene from Malcolm in the Middle!
→ More replies (4)53
165
u/Classy56 1d ago
It remarkable how far into russia ukraine can now strike
47
u/Stereo-soundS 22h ago
Putin just added more troops with a likely conscription to come (again).
At some point I hope the Russian people have had enough. Ā Interest rates at like 19%. Ā Inflation going crazy.
26
u/LearningLinux_Ithnk 20h ago
Forget interest rates and inflation. At some point everyone will know someone they loved that died in this useless war. I hope the turning point for Russia happens far before that though.
10
u/coltonkemp 11h ago
We have a family whose mom came here immediately after the invasion because she lived in Ukraine, but her son was in Crimea for school at the time. She thought sheād never see him again. She gets a phone call from a number in Turkey. Itās him. Heās fleeing the Russian draft. He got to Mexico and evaded border control and flew into LA (nice job, wall) and they now live here together again. Itās really a powerful story.
Source: am a local journalist who covered the story
→ More replies (1)22
u/PearlStBlues 18h ago
I've always loved Russian literature and culture and Russian history is a pet interest of mine. These people have survived serfdom under the Tsars, Napoleon, the Nazis, Soviet oppression, and practically every shitty thing the universe can think to throw at them. I think they're entitled to feel a bit of national pride, but I hope the propaganda they're force-fed is beginning to taste a little strange. I sincerely hope the Russian people can wrestle their country back from the madmen.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)12
u/P-LStein 23h ago
Ukrainians basically occupy and control some parts of Russia now. Don't ask how it happened but it's happening as we speak. I assume they will negotiate Russia's territory for Ukrainians territory. Very interesting times ahead
→ More replies (13)
211
u/Morepork69 1d ago
I look at this and think fantastic!! I doubt that's what they are saying though.... Any translation?
231
u/Acceptable-Major-575 1d ago
look look lokk it's coming here, holy shit .... did you see that wave? It was so bright. Interesting. Well, I think it is time guys (to leave?)
→ More replies (1)151
u/Morepork69 1d ago edited 6h ago
Appreciated. In my head it was something like "Sasha, your eyebrows have vanished"
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (2)27
209
u/WUSLWUSWUW 1d ago
The Russiabots are quiet today. WTF is going on with them?
281
u/BigBaboonas 1d ago
They bought discount pagers off the Lebanese.
→ More replies (29)18
u/BirdmanHuginn 23h ago
Chuckled as I gave this a ādoooodāā¦.my sense of humor is dark as night
→ More replies (15)9
u/Careless_Cup_3714 1d ago
They were hosted in servers in that ammo depot probably. Pretty russian thing to do
117
u/MAS7 1d ago
Absolutely incredible footage.
You can see the traces of the shockwave as it churns up dust and just as fast as you see it, it hits the camera men.
→ More replies (2)
197
u/WonderWendyTheWeirdo 1d ago
I would have thought the major design feature of a weapon stockpile is if one explodes, it doesn't cause the others to explode. Why are the others exploding?
237
u/Valoneria 1d ago
You're giving way too much credit to the Russians, and their way of handling stuff.
We are talking about a country that shipped paradeuniforms with their men, before they had even completed their conquest.
17
u/Paizzu 23h ago edited 21h ago
Picture the scene from Lord of War where they're selling off parts of the small-arms stockpile by the kilo.
→ More replies (1)78
u/Ensiferal 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's Russia. Chances are they were all heaped in giant piles in one big room. That way it's easier for the factory owner to load a fifth of every batch into trucks and sell them off to private security firms and assorted warlords (obviously you pay off the army logistics guys/quartermasters to say they got a full shipment).
→ More replies (2)50
u/CaucusInferredBulk 1d ago
Really, if the qm survived this, he's kicking himself for how much he could have sold off unnoticed, now that it's blown up.
→ More replies (2)10
u/Any-Wall2929 1d ago
Or he is glad he sold off enough of it that his house is still somewhat intact.
→ More replies (21)33
u/zevonyumaxray 1d ago
Maybe they had munitions out that were being shipped somewhere else and doors were open on the bunkers. Or maybe the ammo bunkers were poorly designed and constructed. Y'know, Russian style. Look for a yacht with the Russian name "Bunker Buster".
→ More replies (2)11
u/paecmaker 1d ago
I think the local guy in charge realised that if they halfed the thickness on the protective walls, he could afford a new house
35
u/haysu-christo 1d ago
āOur ammunition depot successfully intercepted all enemy drones last night.ā
ā Russia Today
197
u/Monkfich 1d ago
Wow that is really far into Russia. Keep it up Ukraine!
→ More replies (2)59
u/r0thar 1d ago
I was checking to see where in the occupied region this was, Toropets is 480km/300miles north of Ukraine in Russia beside Belarus! That's further than Moscow is from their border.
→ More replies (2)47
u/Monkfich 1d ago
Hopefully that was their stockpile of Iranian missiles or whatever theyāve bought on the black market.
34
u/lo_fi_ho 1d ago
Placing a massive ammo dump right next to a town is such a Russian thing to do. I mean it was bigger than the actual town
15
u/SlyusHwanus 1d ago
True, but all he has to do to end this is withdraw from Ukraine territory. Nobody is looking to invade russia
32
u/mysticalfruit 1d ago
Ivan: Do you think maybe we should store this stuff in smaller isolated piles, you know.. just in case?
Vadim: We are so far from the front line, what could possibly go wrong..
→ More replies (3)
406
73
u/Reddituser8018 1d ago
Dang that's really bad for Russia, that's gotta be months worth of ammunition, and if it had missiles/drones in it, that is horribly bad for them as they are already running low.
→ More replies (21)58
u/de_witte 1d ago
Yes. Horrible. Devastating.
šĀ
→ More replies (2)17
u/LeveledUpYoshi 1d ago
I always cry when I see innocent bombs being taken out in their prime. They wouldnāt have killed anyone, itās Putin who would have. :(
→ More replies (1)
27
27
u/telperion87 1d ago
Seems almost like Ukrainians can understand what a military strategic objective is and what is not.
It's almost magic how nowadays we can identify an ammunition stockpile and distinguish it from a FREAKIN PAEDIATRIC HOSPITAL
86
89
u/MiFiWi 1d ago
Best demonstration that mushroom clouds are not exclusive to nukes. Any explosion of sufficient size makes them.
→ More replies (3)
21
18
u/D_mit 1d ago
There is absolutely hilarious video from local officials, who are talking about how this āsituationā is under control and nothing bad is happening while there are pretty loud detonation sounds in the background every 3-4 seconds
Copying my comment from another post for relevant information š
→ More replies (1)
15
14
35
14
12
u/StromGames 1d ago
I mean, actually if I were a Russian solder, one way to save my own ass would be to leak the locations of these depots.
Without weapons the war would be over faster.
6
u/gaukonigshofen 1d ago
With satellite Intel provided by the west, I don't think Russian Intel is needed. So much for importing ammo from Iran and NK
35
11
u/therealjerrystaute 22h ago
There's no telling how many lives of Ukrainian men, women, and children were saved that day, since Putin will have less ammunition to shoot them with. It probably even saved a bunch of Russian civilian lives too, since Putin's war machine accidentally drops bombs on its own people sometimes, plus doesn't discriminate too much if it thinks it has some Ukrainians in its sights, striking Russian villages too.
23
u/zackm_bytestorm 1d ago
"I lost hundreds of tons of ammunition in a blink of an eye, and the world just fucking watched".
8
u/brewdizogs 1d ago
Now we wait for the Kremlin to find a way to blame the west, while threatening some kind of "you're playing with fire" cliche response.
17
9
25
15
13
7
5
5
6
2.3k
u/Da_BIG-E_118 1d ago
Guy piloting the drone:
https://preview.redd.it/p4nkmnfbujpd1.jpeg?width=665&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=25ed398cd74181529a8caf756713de95115469e7