By Arhirova Associated Press
Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian drones struck a large military depot in a town deep inside Russia overnight, causing a huge fire and forcing some residents to evacuate, a Ukrainian official and Russian news reports said Wednesday. At least 13 people were injured, Russia’s Health Ministry added.
Meanwhile, a senior U.S. diplomat said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has a workable plan to end the war, now in its third year, although its details have not been publicly disclosed.
Ukraine claimed the strike destroyed military warehouses in Toropets, a town in Russia’s Tver region about 380 kilometers (240 miles) northwest of Moscow and about 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
The attack was carried out by Ukraine’s Security Service, along with Ukraine’s Intelligence and Special Operations Forces, a Kyiv security official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the operation.
According to the official, the depot housed Iskander and Tochka-U missiles, as well as glide bombs and artillery shells. He said the facility caught fire in the strike and was burning across an area 6 kilometers (4 miles) wide.
Among the destroyed ammunition were North Korean KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles, another official, in Ukraine’s Intelligence Office, told AP. He also was not authorized to comment publicly and didn’t provide evidence to support his claim.
Russia and North Korea signed a landmark pact in June that envisioned mutual military assistance between Moscow and Pyongyang.
More than 100 domestically produced exploding drones were deployed in the attack on the depot, the Ukrainian intelligence official added.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted regional authorities as saying air defense systems were working to repel a “massive drone attack” on Toropets, which has a population of about 11,000. The agency also reported a fire and the evacuations, and the Health Ministry said 13 people were hospitalized in the region after the attack.
Tver regional Gov. Igor Rudenya later said all evacuees could return home.
Successful Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia have become more common as Kyiv developed its drone technology.
Zelenskyy also is seeking approval from Western nations for Ukraine to use the sophisticated weapons they are providing to hit targets inside Russia. Some Western leaders have balked at that, fearing they could be dragged into the conflict.
Part of Kyiv’s strategy is targeting of military equipment, ammunition and infrastructure deep inside Russia, as well as making civilians feel some of the consequences of the war that is being fought largely inside Ukraine.
The swift push by Ukrainian forces into Russia’s Kursk border region last month fits into that plan, which apparently seeks to compel Russian President Vladimir Putin to back down.
Putin, however, has shown no signs of that and has been trying to grind down Ukraine’s resolve through attritional warfare and also sap the West’s support for Kyiv by drawing out the conflict. That has come at a price, however, as the U.K. Defense Ministry estimates the war has probably killed or wounded more than 600,000 Russian troops.
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On Tuesday, Putin ordered the country’s military to increase its number of troops by 180,000 to a total of 1.5 million by Dec. 1.
Zelenskyy announced his war plan in his nightly address on Monday, saying it’s 90% ready and will be presented to allies over the next week.
He said Ukraine’s plan for victory includes not only battlefield goals but also diplomatic and economic wins. The plan has been kept under wraps but the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said at a news conference Tuesday that Washington officials have seen it.
“We think it lays out a strategy and a plan that can work,” she said, adding that the United States will bring it up with other world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly in New York next week. She did not comment on what the plan contained.