Ukraine-Russia war latest: Mass drone attack on Russian arms depot sparks huge fire

The UK has summoned Russia’s ambassador following what it described as an “unprecedented and unfounded public campaign of aggression” by Moscow, including accusations against Foreign Office staff.

Russia’s FSB security service said last week it had revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow after accusing them of spying and sabotage work, accusations Britain described as “malicious and completely baseless”.

“This pattern of behaviour is completely unacceptable, deeply unprofessional, and beneath the standards of conduct between states,” a spokesperson for the Foreign Office said, calling on Russia to “stop this activity immediately”.

“This is the latest development in a deliberate campaign by Russia to undermine and threaten UK security and democracy and deter our support for Ukraine, through disinformation, acts of sabotage in Europe and direct harassment and restrictions against our diplomatic missions in Russia,” they added.

Nasa satellites picked up intense heat sources emanating from an area of about five square miles at the site of the blast in Russia’s Tver region, while earthquake monitoring stations picked up what sensors thought was a small earthquake in the area.

The US Navy is taking lessons from its combat in the Red Sea over the past year and what Ukraine has done to hold off the Russians in the Black Sea to help US military leaders prepare the service for a potential future conflict with China.

From drones and unmanned surface vessels to the more advanced operation of ship-board guns, the Navy is expanding its combat skills and broadening training. It is also working to overcome recruiting struggles so it can have the sailors it needs to fight the next war.

Admiral Lisa Franchetti, chief of naval operations, is laying out a series of goals, including several that will be highly challenging to meet, in a new navigation plan she described in an interview with The Associated Press. The objective is to be ready to face what the Pentagon calls its key national security challenge – China.

“I’m very focused on 2027. It’s the year that that President Xi told his forces to be ready to invade Taiwan,” Ms Franchetti said. “We need to be more ready.”

A Toropets chatroom on the Russian social media site VK was flooded with messages of support from other parts of the country and offers of help to people fleeing the town.

Some people were asking whether buildings at specific addresses were still standing.

“People, does anyone know what’s happened to Kudino village??? They told me nothing is left of our house,” posted one woman.

Another woman replied: “It’s horror there.” Kudino is a village 4.5 km (2.8 miles) northeast of Toropets.

The size of the main blast shown in unverified social media footage of the blast at the Tver arms depot was consistent with 200-240 tonnes of high explosives detonating, George William Herbert of the California’s Middlebury Institute of International Studies told Reuters.

According to an RIA state news agency report from 2018, Russia was building an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets – the site of the mass Ukrainian drone attack.

Dmitry Bulgakov, then a deputy defence minister, told RIA in 2018 that the facility could defend weapons from missiles and even a small nuclear attack. Bulgakov was arrested earlier this year on corruption charges, which he denies.

“It [the concrete facilities] ensures their reliable and safe storage, protects them from air and missile strikes and even from the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion,” RIA quoted Mr Bulgakov as saying at the time.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, the former’s office said, adding that they discussed topics including the Ukraine war and an upcoming Brics summit.

The two leaders “talked about themes that will be addressed at the BRICS summit next month in Kazan, bilateral relations, and Brazil’s and China’s peace proposal for the conflict between Russia and Ukraine”, the Brazilian government said.

At least 13 people were injured in the Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian arms depot in Tver, Russia’s health ministry has claimed.

State news agency Tass quoted regional governor Igor Rudenya as saying that no citizens sustained serious injuries and nobody was killed.