A RUSSIAN military base exploded in flames today – as a gunpowder plant supplying Putin’s forces in Ukraine was also blasted in a second suspected attack.
Dramatic footage showed a roaring fire at an army engineering barracks at Kurganinsk in Krasnodar region near Crimea.
East2WestA Russian military base exploded in flames at Kurganinsk, Krasnodar region[/caption]
East2WestAnother drone attack was carried out on a gunpowder plant in Kotovsk[/caption]
A previous Ukrainian drone strike on the Tambov gunpowder plant on November 11East2West
In the video, the voice of a passing local can be heard saying: “I was driving home and here’s the military base on fire. Holy s***!”
The base is linked to military unit No. 98547, part of 242nd Bridge Railway Battalion of the Russian Armed Forces, whose main tasks include maintaining and repairing railway bridges for military uses.
A sawmill at the facility is believed to have been destroyed in the fire.
Meanwhile, Russia has reported a drone attack on a gunpowder plant in Kotovsk, Tambov region, which supplies Putin’s forces in Ukraine.
A drone exploded on the roof of a workshop, causing damage and sparking a fire, Russian news outlet Baza reports.
It follows another massive explosion and fire at the plant on Saturday.
Russian investigators blamed Ukraine for the first attack on the Tambov gunpowder factory and said they were treating it as a “terrorist act”.
New footage released today showed a drone head toward the plant.
Additional video showed the huge explosions that struck at the heart of Putin’s war machine, as the night sky lit up in crimson and orange.
Locals heard a loud explosion moments before the sky was set ablaze.
Ukrainian telegram channels claimed one of their kamikaze drones was responsible for the attack.
Simultaneously, huge explosions were witnessed at a factory that makes the deadly Iskander-M missiles Putin has used against Ukraine.
Russia claimed it had shot down a drone but the roof of a plant workshop at the state-run defence enterprise in Komolna was plainly ablaze.
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov has predicted the war between Russia and Ukraine could drag on for decades.
He cited the failure of the USSR – and later Russia – to sign a peace treaty with Japan signalling the end of the Second World War with an ongoing territorial dispute over the Kuril Islands.
Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov said: “There are cases in history when long-standing wars between states never ended legally.
“This territorial problem is over 70 years old.
“So this same scenario is very likely here too [regarding Moscow and Kyiv] because Russia has significant territorial cravings with respect to Ukraine, not only with respect to Crimea.
“Of course, no one is going to satisfy these appetites.”
He predicted that Russia will “continue with their chaotic bombardments, but without intense hostilities” and that 2025 could be a turning point.
The military intelligence chief continued: “War fatigue among Russians is growing rapidly, and the population is also declining rapidly.
“It is not a forecast, but an expectation, but we should not forget that the war is globalised every month and gives rise to new processes.
“We are witnessing a fuel crisis, a sharp rise in prices for food and other goods. This is shaking their economy and their social sphere.”
On Friday, two Russian assault boats with crew on board were allegedly destroyed by Ukrainian kamikaze drones in annexed Crimea.
The ships were reportedly carrying loaded armoured vehicles, including BTR-82 personnel carriers.
A possible sabotage attack early the next morning sent nineteen carriages of a Russian cargo train crashing off the tracks.
The unexpected blast ripped up the railway line in Ryazan region, 130 miles southeast of Moscow.
It was suspected that the attack was either by Ukrainians saboteurs operating inside Russia, or by Russian partisans sympathetic to Kyiv.
Some 302,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and wounded so far in Ukraine, according to new UK figures.
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said: “We estimate that approximately 302,000 Russian military personnel have been killed or wounded, and tens of thousands more have already deserted since the start of the conflict.”
He also revealed Putin had lost 7,117 armoured vehicles since he launched his full-scale invasion on February 24 last year.
East2WestUkraine’s intelligence chief Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
