Blasts in Russia this week: destroyed ammunition depots, damage to Bryansk chemical plant, drones in Crimea

Drones in Bryansk, Moscow and other parts of Russia. Explosions in a military unit in Volgograd

• On the night of Tuesday, November 14, a drone packed with explosives attacked a chemical plant in Bryansk Oblast, damaging the roof of the building. The Russian MoD reports that UAVs were shot down in three other regions. In addition, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that during the night of November 14, four drones attempted to attack facilities in the Moscow, Tambov, Bryansk, and Oryol regions.

• On November 15, the Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukraine of an alleged drone attack on the Smolensk region. According to them, Russian air defense shot down a drone. 

• On the night of November 16, a fire broke out in a Russian military unit in the Volgograd region of the Russian Federation. Locals heard explosions. According to preliminary data, the fire started around 1 a.m. at the Russian Defense Ministry facility located two kilometers from the village of Kotluban.

• Also on the night of November 16, Russian air defense allegedly destroyed two UAVs over the territory of the Bryansk region, and three more were intercepted over the Black Sea off the coast of the temporarily occupied Crimea. According to the governor of Kursk region, "Ukraine fired rockets at the Sudzhansky district. 

• The strikes were documented near the village of Martynovka." As a result, there was no electricity supply in Martynovka and the neighboring villages of Cherkasskoe Porechnoe and Kasachya Loknya.

• At the same time, Volgograd continued to suffer: a warehouse with small arms ammunition burned down on the territory of a military unit in the Volgograd region of the Russian Federation. The probable cause of the fire, according to Russia, was a drone attack. 630 people were evacuated, including 379 military personnel, 251 civilian employees and 3 children.

• On Saturday, November 18, the Russian Defense Ministry announced an alleged drone attack in the Bryansk region. Russian air defense allegedly destroyed a Ukrainian UAV.

• And on the night of November 18-19, Russian air defense allegedly targeted drones near the terrorist capital, Moscow. "In the Bogorodsky city district, air defense forces stopped an attempted drone attack on Moscow. Preliminaryly, there were no damages or injuries as a result of the falling debris. Emergency services are working at the scene," the mayor of the terrorists' capital wrote.

Blasts in Kherson region destroyed enemy ammunition depots in occupied territories and "air defense work" in Sevastopol 

• Operators of unmanned aerial systems of the 103rd separate territorial defense brigade destroyed an enemy ammunition depot and published a video of their work. In a forested area on the temporarily occupied territory, the soldiers noticed the movement of Russian troops and, in quick cooperation with their colleagues from the 40th separate artillery brigade, used ASH Krab to make several precision shots.

• On November 15, artillerymen and aerial reconnaissance men destroyed a Russian army barracks in the village of Brylivka in Kherson region and eliminated two platoons of the occupiers who were there. Journalist Yuriy Butusov posted the video on his social media page. According to Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, head of the press office of the Kherson Regional Military Administration, Brylivka is an ordinary village on the left bank of the Kherson region that was occupied in February last year: "We hope to liberate it in the near future. I think even in the next month."

• On Friday, November 17, powerful explosions were heard in the temporarily occupied Sevastopol. The so-called governor of the city claimed that it was the work of air defense. "The explosions made the windows shake," local residents reported. The so-called governor of the city declared an air alert. According to him, Russian air defense was operating in the city. According to preliminary data, 2 air targets were allegedly shot down in the Black Sea.

Opinions of experts

The Ukrainian Defense Forces have been conducting successful attacks on Russian naval facilities in the temporarily occupied Crimea, forcing Russia to redeploy its ships. According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been successful in attacking Russian naval facilities in Crimea.

He emphasized this in response to a question about Russia's intentions to deploy a fleet base in Abkhazia.

"This is a violation of Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and demonstrates how far Russia is willing to go to achieve its military goals in Ukraine. But it also shows that Ukrainians have been successful in attacking naval facilities in Crimea, so Russia is looking for alternatives. This demonstrates the achievements that the Ukrainians have made by attacking the Russian navy," Stoltenberg emphasized at the time.

According to military expert Serhiy Zgurets, the massive attack by attack drones on the Russian military-industrial complex is only the beginning.

"So far, these drone strikes deep into enemy territory, at a distance of about 400 km, have not yet caused critical damage to important enemy industrial facilities, but this is only the beginning," emphasizes Zgurets. "The corresponding effect will be ensured in the future by data accuracy, accuracy and scaling. This strategy should complement our actions on the battlefield, and it should be no less effective than the work of our air defense system in hunting down enemy cruise and ballistic missiles. Because it is better to destroy the plant than the missiles that this plant produces."

Meanwhile, according to the spokesperson for the Ukrainian Navy, Captain Dmytro Pletenchuk, the combat core of the Russian fleet now includes more than 30 units. According to him, there are no Russian Black Sea Fleet ships or carriers in the sea at the moment.

"Out of this 30-unit combat core, 10 more ships are the only weapons that the enemy can actually use, these are cruise missile carriers. According to my information, 15 of them have been destroyed and 12 more damaged," Pletenchuk said.