(DOVZHANSK, LUHANSK REGION, UKRAINE) – Ukrainian Defence Forces have destroyed a storage facility containing missiles for Russian air defence systems in the temporarily occupied city of Dovzhansk in the Luhansk region, according to Ukrainian open source intelligence analysts and monitoring channels.
The explosion occurred on March 5 at a storage site used by Russian forces to store surface to air missiles.
Images and videos circulating online show a large explosion followed by an extended series of detonations at the location.
The strike reportedly hit a facility located on the grounds of a former dynamite warehouse.
According to analysts from the open source intelligence community CyberBoroshno, Russian troops had repurposed the former industrial storage site as a logistics facility used to store air defence munitions.
The location of the facility has been identified at coordinates 48.101990, 39.670564.
Analysts noted that the site lies about 150 kilometres behind the current front line, indicating that the strike targeted Russian military infrastructure deep inside occupied territory.
Footage published by monitoring channels shows a large fire at the storage site.
The recordings show repeated secondary detonations as stored missiles ignited.
Multiple flashes and sparks can be seen in the sky as explosions continued and fragments were scattered across the surrounding area.
Open source intelligence analysts concluded that the facility was used to store missiles for Russian surface to air defence systems.
Local monitoring channels reported that the explosions were audible several kilometres away.
Some video footage appears to show rockets igniting and launching into the air during the secondary detonations.
The strike was also confirmed by Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Centre for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council.
“A Russian missile storage site has been destroyed in the temporarily occupied territory of Luhansk region,” Kovalenko said.
The destruction of the site marks another strike by Ukrainian forces against Russian military infrastructure in occupied territories.
A Ukrainian drone strike triggered a solid-fuel ammunition detonation near Sverdlovsk in Russian-occupied Luhansk region.
Footage captured the aftermath as secondary explosions lit up the night sky at the depot thought to be a storage site for Russian air defence missiles.
