Explosions that destroyed one of Russia's largest rocket arsenals, caused by negligence, say British secret services

A combination of defective handling of weapons and improper storage practices has probably led to the explosions that destroyed the arsenal of the main direction of rockets and artillery 51 (wheat) at the end of April, the British Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday.

A satellite image of April 24 shows extensive damage Planet Labs photo

In an update of information, the British Ministry has estimated that explosions have probably led to the biggest loss of Kremlin because of the actions of their own troops since the beginning of the War in Ukraine.

“It is very likely that the procedures for manipulation of weapons, along with the negligent storage of ammunition, have led to this loss,” the ministry wrote.

“This is in accordance with a long tendency of Russian inaititude, highlighted on a regular basis, in terms of safe and correct manipulation of their own ammunition,” he added.

The ammunition warehouse, located about 80 kilometers northeast of Moscow, in the Vladimir region, was affected by several explosions after set fire on April 22.

Although he did not mention the name of the installation, the Kremlin said the same day that a fire at a warehouse in the Vladimir region caused the detonation of ammunition. The declaration of the Russian Ministry of Defense attributed the fire of a “violation of safety requirements in working with explosive materials”.

The satellite images obtained by Business Insider last month showed that the Russian arsenal suffered serious damage, large portions of the installation being affected.

A satellite image shows a damaged ammunition warehouse.

The British Ministry of Defense said that the satellite images showed that over a square kilometer in the warehouse was damaged by detonations, which suggests “massive losses at a key strategic warehouse that supplies the Russia's war in Ukraine.”

The images of the explosion circulating on social networks seem to show secondary explosions in the civil areas around the ammunition warehouse, which is one of the largest in Russia.

The British Ministry of Defense cited Ukrainian figures who declared that the 51 -wheat warehouse had about 105,000 tons of ammunition, including ballistic missiles, launched from air and air defense.

Andri Kovalenko, the head of the Center for Combating Kiev misinformation, told the explosions that the warehouse also contains artillery.

The comparative photos in the satellite show the unariat Grau Arsenal, followed by the installation full of craters and buildings in ruins.