Not Much Left Of 51st GRAU Arsenal Near Moscow

• 24.04.2025, 8:10

The satellite made it possible to assess the consequences of the strike.

The first satellite images that allow assessing the consequences of the bombing of the 51st arsenal of the Russian Defence Ministry's Main Rocket and Artillery Directorate(GRAU) in Vladimir region have appeared.

Almost the entire territory of the military facility has been damaged. Images taken by the European Sentinel 1 satellite constellation, were published on 23 April by OSINT expert MT Anderson.

The expert compared the images of the military facility for 17 April (before the explosion), and for 23 April - after.

Judging by them, the central part of the arsenal was completely destroyed by a powerful primary explosion, while secondary detonations damaged the rest of the facility, as well as settlements around it.

It is still unknown what happened to the Russian arsenal. The Russian Defence Ministry insists on the version about ‘violation of safety requirements’, denying Ukraine's involvement in the incident. Kyiv also keeps a mysterious silence.

A powerful explosion at the 51st GRAU arsenal took place in the afternoon of Tuesday, 22 April. A huge ‘mushroom’ of flames and smoke rose above the territory of the military base, which was visible at a distance of over 50 kilometres. After that, a secondary detonation of shells began, which lasted almost all night.

Russian human rights resource ‘Gulagu.net’ claims that at least 7 Russian servicemen were killed in the incident. There is no official confirmation yet. Hundreds of residents of nearby settlements were evacuated.

The dispersion of shells was recorded more than 10 kilometres from the site of the emergency. The exploded warehouse could contain up to 270 thousand tonnes of ammunition, which Russia will no longer be able to use in its aggression against Ukraine. The amount of damage to the Russian Armed Forces may exceed 50bn roubles.