Footage showed the huge explosions that struck at the heart of Vladimir Putin’s war machine as Ukraine ramped up aerial assaults deep behind enemy lines.
Dramatic footage captured the explosion and massive fire at the gunpowder plant in Tambov region at midnight on Friday.
The night sky was lit up in crimson and orange from the detonation at Kotovsk, 300 miles southeast of Moscow.
Locals heard a loud explosion moments before the sky was set ablaze above the facility that supplies ammunition to the Russian army.
Ukrainian telegram channels claimed one of their kamikaze drones was responsible for the attack.
“Oh, my dear girl who went to work on the night shift, please come back alive,” a local wrote on social media. Another posted: “It was the 5th workshop that exploded.” One more warned: “Stop sharing such details, we don’t know who’s reading this group.”
Simultaneously, huge explosions were witnessed at a factory that makes Putin’s deadly Iskander-M missiles that have been used against Ukraine.
The facility at Komolna, some 60 miles southeast of Moscow, is a state-run defence enterprise specialising in missile systems. Russia claimed it had shot down a drone but the roof of a plant workshop was plainly ablaze. Ambulances and police were at the scene as Russian media reported damage to the site’s roof and windows and the road leading to it.
The plant is owned by state-owned defence conglomerate Rostec, headed by close Putin crony Sergey Chemezov.
It produces man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems, anti-tank missile systems operational-tactical missile systems and active protection complexes.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the two incidents. Ukraine rarely comments on claims of such strikes in Russia. However, its forces have targeted Russian military, logistics, and infrastructure sites in Russia and in occupied territories.
In July, an Iskander-M was used for a Russian strike on the Ukrainian security service, SBU, headquarters in Dnipro.
Along with brazen attacks on Russian soil, Ukraine has made it their mission to turn Russian-occupied territories into an active war zone that they regularly target with a barrage of missiles and kamikaze drone attacks.
On Friday, startling footage emerged of a Ukrainian drone attack that blitzed Russian barracks and high-speed landing boats in occupied Crimea.
The ships were reportedly carrying loaded armoured vehicles, including personnel carrier BTR-82.
Dramatic black and white footage showed the moment drones hit the Russian navy crafts and a huge explosion engulfed the screen.
Ukraine’s homemade “Sea Baby” drones, which can travel 500 miles and carry 600lb of explosives, are responsible for a spate of audacious attacks on Russian vessels in recent months.
In recent months, Ukraine has ramped up production of its unmanned marine assault weapons which have become Putin’s newest nightmare.
And Kyiv’s newly-designed £355k 20ft Marichka “death drones” were recently taken for a test swim as they are set to be unleashed on Russian targets soon.
It is the latest creation of Ammo. Ukraine, is a volunteer organisation that is helping to turn the tides in the so-called “War of the Drones”.
It comes as a major explosion sent nineteen carriages of a Russian cargo train crashing off the tracks in a possible sabotage attack early today.
The unexpected blast ripped up the railway line in the Ryazan region, 130 miles southeast of Moscow, in a fresh blow to Vladimir Putin on his home turf.
A mysterious white power was seen in seven of the overturned wagons which were officially claimed to be “mineral fertiliser”.
It was suspected that the attack was either by Ukrainian operatives in Russia or by Russian partisans sympathetic to Kyiv.
The rail incident was quickly labeled “sabotage” by the authorities after it appeared that this specific train was targeted.
