Satellite imagery captured Thursday shows extensive damage at one of Russia’s largest ammunition depots after it caught fire and exploded earlier in the week.
An image taken by Planet Labs and obtained by Business Insider reveals significant destruction at the 51st Main Missile and Artillery Directorate (GRAU) Arsenal, an ammunition complex located northeast of Moscow in the Vladimir region, over 300 miles from the border with Ukraine. It’s a huge facility.
The overhead image shows what appears to be destroyed buildings and scorched earth, consistent with fires caused by the initial and subsequent explosions that witnesses filmed Tuesday. The full extent of the damage at the 51st GRAU is unclear, but it seems that a large portion of the facility was affected.
Planet Labs
Planet Labs
The Russian defense ministry didn’t identify the facility by name in its statement, but it said that a fire at an unnamed military site in the Vladimir region caused ammunition to explode in a warehouse. Several people were reportedly hurt in the aftermath.
Russian state media said a state of emergency was declared in the specific district where the 51st GRAU is located.
In a statement posted to Telegram, the Russian ministry wrote: “The cause of the fire is a violation of safety requirements when working with explosive materials.” It said the incident would be investigated.
In the aftermath of the blast, videos began to emerge on social media of what were said to be Russian munitions raining down on nearby civilian areas.
Ukraine’s strategic communications center described the ammunition facility as one of Russia’s largest munitions arsenals. Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Kyiv’s Center for Countering Disinformation, said the site holds some 100,000 tons of weaponry, including artillery shells and missiles. BI could not independently verify these details.
Russia has a history of accidents like the one at the 51st GRAU. Four people were killed in June 2022 at this facility when ammunition exploded during unloading operations. And another Russian ammo depot blew up twice in 2019.
Amid the ongoing war, Russia’s ammunition depots have also been high-value targets for Ukraine, which has used domestically produced missiles and drones to wage a very successful deep-strike campaign against its neighbor’s military and energy facilities.
Ukrainian forces attacked several Russian ammunition depots in the fall, demonstrating their long reach and the apparent ineffectiveness of Moscow’s air defenses.
