this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2025
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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.

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[–] Carmakazi@lemmy.world 182 points 3 months ago (10 children)

I'm pretty sure competent militaries store their munitions in networks of dozens if not hundreds of earthen bunkers per site, specifically so shit like this can't happen.

264 kilotons is a fuckload of bombs.

[–] Gobbel2000@programming.dev 38 points 3 months ago (1 children)

In their infinite wisdom they apparently stored a bunch of ammunitions out in the open.

[–] The_v@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago

Russia has a long history of open storage at these sites. They also lost a ton of bunkers a few months ago at other sites. So they likely did not have much of an option, and they chose open store it at their "best defended" base.

I personally would bet that site was overstocked as it was likely the primary ammo dump by default. All of the newly manufactured missiles and shells going there directly from the factories.

[–] vxx@lemmy.world 35 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It could hold that much, but according to Ukraine it was 105000 tons that exploded. Huge success though.

[–] Klear@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 months ago

I'm making a note here.

[–] Corngood@lemmy.ml 32 points 3 months ago

Assuming I'm looking at the right thing on google maps, it does seem to be a lot of earthen bunkers with berms separating them. There are also quite a few free standing buildings scattered around.

I looked at Hawthorne Army Depot (US) to compare, and that one is a lot less dense, but it's absolutely gigantic.

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 23 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

They may not have enough manpower to guard a more distributed site, especially if they’re afraid of internal groups seizing some of it.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 23 points 3 months ago

That's like ten small nukes.

[–] StaticFalconar@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago

But you can save money by putting all of them in one place

[–] AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 17 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I guess we don't have an accurate source on what percentage of munitions his was.

[–] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 23 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I would confidently assume 100% of it was munitions

[–] raltoid@lemmy.world 10 points 3 months ago

Competent being the key word in that sentence, and not an accurate one based on the last few years of intel.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 months ago

I assume that bunkers protect you from a chain reaction, but that at some point the explosion is big enough that a chain reaction is exactly what you get.

This definitely seems like it would have been big enough to cause a chain reaction (and/or big enough to show that a chain reaction happened). If so, I wonder what fraction of bunkers exploded. I'm glad we live in an age of civilian satellites, so it's probably just a matter of time before we get to see the damage for ourselves.