Drone strike devastates Russian ammo depot
Explosions at the 51st Arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate (GRAU) have destroyed a significant portion of the large ammunition depot. While the Russians have not disclosed the extent of the losses, satellite images reveal the scale of the destruction.
On April 22, 2025, at the 51st GRAU Arsenal, large explosions occurred. The Russians officially claim that these were the result of a fire and a "violation of safety rules," while the Ukrainians have not confirmed their involvement in the incident. Nevertheless, the destruction of much of the vast ammunition depot is attributed to Ukrainian drones.
Located east of Moscow, the facility covers an area of one square mile and—according to varying estimates—allowed the storage of just over 100,000 to nearly 300,000 tons of various types of ammunition, including artillery shells, rockets for multiple rocket launchers such as the Grad, Uragan, and Smerch, aerial munitions, and missiles for anti-aircraft systems.
According to Ukrainian sources, the warehouse also contained large stockpiles of Chinese 107 mm rockets intended for the Type 63 launchers.
Destruction at the 51st GRAU Arsenal
Although the Russians have not provided information about the losses incurred, satellite images offer insight into the situation, allowing for a comparison of the facility's appearance before and after the series of explosions. It turns out that detonations occurred over a substantial area of the depot, and up to 80 percent of the ammunition stored there may have been destroyed.
The vast scale of destruction is puzzling, considering how such depots are constructed. The 51st GRAU Arsenal was an area surrounded by an earthen embankment and divided internally into separate compartments by earth barriers.
Ammunition is stored both in open spaces and in concrete bunkers. This organization of the depot theoretically means that an explosion in one compartment should not cause detonations in adjacent ones, and the energy of the explosion is primarily directed upwards.
Despite this, according to analysts evaluating the aftermath of the explosion, up to 30 compartments and warehouses may have exploded at the 51st GRAU Arsenal, and the central part of the entire facility sustained serious damage.
