Ukrainian drones struck a large military depot in a Russian town early Wednesday morning, causing a massive fire and forcing the evacuation of dozens of residents, sources in Kiev and Moscow said.
The attack came as a senior US diplomat said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's recently announced but still classified plan to win the war "might work" and help end the conflict, now in its third year.
Ukraine said the strike destroyed Russian military depots in Toropets, a town in Russia's Tver region, about 380 kilometers northwest of Moscow and about 500 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.
The attack was carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine, together with Ukraine's Intelligence and Special Operations Forces, a Kiev security official told the Associated Press (AP) on condition of anonymity.
The source said the warehouse contained Iskander and Tochka-U missiles, as well as glide bombs and artillery shells, and the warehouse eventually caught fire, burning a six-kilometer area around it.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted regional authorities as saying that air defense systems were working to repel a "massive drone attack" in Toropets, which has a population of about 11,000.
The agency also reported a fire and the evacuation of some local residents. It was not immediately known whether there were any casualties.
Successful Ukrainian strikes on targets inside Russia have become more common as the war has progressed and Kiev has developed its drone technology.
Zelenskyy is also trying to win Western approval for Ukraine to use the sophisticated weapons they are supplying to strike targets inside Russia. Some Western leaders have balked at this possibility, fearing they could be drawn into the conflict.
Ukraine’s targeting of Russian military equipment, ammunition and infrastructure inside Russia, as well as making Russian civilians feel some of the consequences of the war that is largely being fought inside Ukraine, is part of Kiev’s strategy.
The rapid advance of Ukrainian forces into Russia’s Kursk border region last month is part of this plan, which appears to be aimed at forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to back down.
Putin, however, has shown no signs of backing down, and has sought to weaken Ukraine’s resolve through a war of attrition and also to undermine Western support for Kiev by prolonging the conflict.
However, this has come at a price, with the UK Ministry of Defense estimating that the war has likely killed and wounded more than 600,000 Russian troops.
On Tuesday, Putin ordered the country’s armed forces to increase their troop numbers by 180,000, to a total of 1.5 million, by December 1.
Zelenskyy said last month that his plan for victory includes not only battlefield objectives but also diplomatic and economic victories.
The plan has been kept secret, but US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said during a press conference on Tuesday that officials in Washington were already aware of it.
"We think this is a strategy and a plan that can work," she said, adding that the United States would present it to other world leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York next week. The minister did not comment on the content of the plan.
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