One of Russia's largest munitions stockpiles erupted in catastrophic secondary explosions that continued for hours.

Apparently, Ukrainian drones pushed through and started a chain reaction.

Explosions reportedly continued for hours, and authorities evacuated nearby settlements. Initial reports indicate that the site, previously protected by one of Russia’s densest air defense networks, suffered catastrophic damage.

  • gaael@lemm.eeEnglish
    37·
    9 hours ago

    I hace no idea how serious a blow this is. Can anyone provide any sense of magnitude for these 264 000 tons of munitions? Like how big a chunk of total ammunition stockpile woukd this be? How big is it compared to current manufacturing rate?

    • Realitätsverlust@lemmy.zipEnglish
      372·
      8 hours ago

      It’s not that easy to calculate as “munitions” can be anything from artillery shells to ballistic missiles.

      If we assume it’s mostly/all artillery shells, it’s roughly one month of production. Russia currently produces 250.000 units of artillery shells per month if everything goes right. Russia uses roughly 10.000 of them per day, so it would be almost one months worth of combat.

      If the stockpile contained more of glide bombs and ballistic missiles, the damage is even worse because they are significantly more expensive to produce.

        • Realitätsverlust@lemmy.zipEnglish
          13·
          8 hours ago

          True, for some reason, I thought of units instead of tons lmao.

          The damage is significantly worse then, probably months worth of production, maybe even a year. A standard shell weighs like what, 45kg?

          • Elrecoal19@lemmy.worldEnglish
            11·
            8 hours ago

            264.000.000kg/(45kg/unit) = around 5.866.666 units? Just wanted to have the number so others see the impact.

            • Sonor@lemmy.worldEnglish
              10·
              7 hours ago

              5.866.666 That is ~587 days worth of munitions if 10k a day is a good info mentioned above. bonkers

    • judasferret@aussie.zoneEnglish
      2030·
      8 hours ago

      Chatgpt thoughts… With some spot checking on the math seems right… Here’s the context of 250,000 tonnes of munitions from the Russian side:

      Russia fires 10,000 to 60,000 artillery shells per day, depending on the front.

      A typical 152mm shell weighs around 40–43 kg.

      That means Russia can burn through 1,800+ tonnes per day in peak operations.

      Russian production in 2023 was estimated at 2 million+ shells per year.

      Russia also draws from Soviet-era stockpiles and imports from North Korea and Iran.

      Russian doctrine favors volume over precision. Their artillery-centric strategy relies on overwhelming force rather than accuracy.

      250,000 tonnes equates to roughly 6 million shells.

      For Russia, that’s only about 3–5 months of usage at current intensity.