This is the moment Russia claims to have attacked a Ukrainian arms depot full of ammunition supplied by the West.
Images shared on social media show the Odessa depot consumed by a raging inferno, after Russia attacked it with an Iskander-M missile.
Mini-explosions, believed to detonate munitions, can be heard as smoke fills the night sky over the port city.
The Colonel Cassad Telegram channel, with 896,000 followers, reported: ‘There is a fire on Bugayevskaya (street) in Odessa after a strike.
‘Judging by the images, the ammunition depots are burning, a secondary detonation is heard…
“The cartridges fly in different directions.”
This is the moment Russia claims to have attacked a Ukrainian arms depot full of ammunition supplied by the West.
Missiles, part of the Iskander-M missile complex, are seen during a demonstration at the international military-technical forum ARMY-2019 at the Alabino firing range in the Moscow region, Russia, June 25, 2019.
A major Ukrainian media outlet, Unian, said “the cause of the fire is unknown.”
The warehouse complex was close to a key railway line. No details were given in initial reports about the type of ammunition supposedly found in the warehouses.
It comes as Putin said on Sunday that Russia’s Defense Ministry was working on different ways to respond if the United States and its NATO allies help Ukraine deeply strike Russia with long-range Western missiles.
The invasion has sparked the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the depths of the Cold War, and Russian officials say the war is now entering its most dangerous phase.
Russia has been signaling to the United States and its allies for weeks that if they give Ukraine permission to strike deep into Russian territory with Western-supplied missiles, then Moscow will consider it a major escalation.
Images shared on social media show the Odessa depot consumed by a raging inferno, after Russia attacked it with an Iskander-M missile.
Mini-explosions, believed to detonate munitions, can be heard as smoke fills the night sky over the port city.
Major Ukrainian media outlet Unian said “the cause of the fire is unknown”
Putin said on September 12 that Western approval of such a step would mean “direct participation of NATO countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine” because NATO infrastructure and military personnel would have to participate. in the attacks and firing of the missiles.
Putin said it was too early to say exactly how Russia would react to such a move, but that Moscow would have to respond accordingly and that different options were being examined.
“(The Russian Defense Ministry) is thinking about how to respond to possible long-range attacks on Russian territory, it will offer a variety of responses,” Putin told Russian state television’s top Kremlin reporter Pavel Zarubin.
As Russia advances at the fastest pace into eastern Ukraine since the first months of the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been pleading with the West to allow kyiv to fire deep into Russia with Western missiles.
The United States has not said publicly whether it will allow Ukraine to attack Russia, but some American officials are deeply skeptical that doing so will make a significant difference in the war.
Ukrainian forces already regularly strike deep into Russia with long-range drones.
Putin, who ordered thousands of troops to Ukraine in 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine, presents the war as a battle between Russia and the declining West, which he says ignored Russia’s interests afterward. of the Soviet collapse of 1991.
Russian soldiers load Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile launchers into a firing position as part of a Russian military exercise aimed at training troops in the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
Russian troops load an Iskander missile as part of exercises to train the military in the use of tactical nuclear weapons at an undisclosed location in Russia.
Ukraine and its Western allies say Putin unleashed an imperial-style war against its smaller neighbor and have repeatedly said that if Russia wins the war, autocratic countries around the world will be emboldened.
Just weeks before the US presidential election, Putin changed Russia’s nuclear doctrine.
in what the Kremlin said was an attempt to signal Russia’s concern over Western discussions of missile attacks from Ukraine.
Asked if the West had listened to Russia’s warnings, Putin told Zarubin: “I hope they have listened.” Because, of course, we’ll also have to make some decisions for ourselves.’
Putin said that only NATO officers could fire such weapons at Russia and that they would need to use data from Western satellites to target the weapons, so the question is really “whether they will allow themselves to strike deep into Russian territory or not.” That’s the question.’
US officials say the United States is not seeking to escalate the conflict.
It is unclear how the new US president will approach the war: Former US President Donald Trump has said he will end the war in Ukraine, while Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris says she will continue to support Ukraine.
