Shells from the DPRK: what is known about the military base in Krasnodar Krai that blew up in the morning

On the night of September 21, the Defense Forces struck the 719th artillery ammunition base in Krasnodar Krai, destroying it. The Russians had been storing ammunition at this base, including ammunition received from North Korea.

It is currently unknown how much ammunition was stored at the base, but there is reason to believe that the concentration of ammunition could have exceeded any standards. The details are reported by the Defense Express military portal.

The publication calls the 719th artillery ammunition base near Tikhoretsk in the Krasnodar Territory, which was destroyed at night, "relatively small" compared to the arsenals in the Tver Region that have been hit in recent days. The military facility, which covers a total area of about 1 square kilometer (2.6 square kilometers according to CSIS), was used to store both ammunition and artillery systems.

The base is located about 300 kilometers from the front line, so it played a significant role for the enemy's southern and eastern groups, Defense Express writes. That is why satellite imagery recorded an increase in ammunition shelters on the base in 2022-2024.

"That is, the concentration of ammunition at this facility could have been much higher and exceeded any norms. Moreover, it was to this base that some of the artillery ammunition from the DPRK was brought. Their route was investigated by the OSINT group Frontelligence Insight in January 2024. And it was the 719th base near Tikhoretsk, along with a warehouse near the village of Yegorlytske in Rostov region and Mozdok in North Ossetia, that was the place of storage," Defense Express noted.

The storage of North Korean missiles at the damaged base in the Tikhoretsky district of the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation was also confirmed by Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council.

"A warehouse in the Tikhoretsky district of the Russian Federation has been demilitarized. It was also used to store North Korean KN23s, as well as artillery and Smerch ammunition," he said.

The fact that one of the three main storage sites for the ammunition received from the DPRK was the base in the Tikhoretsk region is also mentioned in the CSIS report. The choice was made due to the relative proximity of the location to the front line, which allows for faster movement of ammunition from Tikhoretsk to the BC tactical depots, which, analysts say, fits within the framework of the Russian doctrine of "pushing" instead of "pulling" supplies.

The White House confirmed the base near Tikhoretsk as a storage site for North Korean munitions back on October 13, 2023. And it is since last fall that a sharp increase in Russian activity has been observed in the area of the base.

After analyzing satellite images from August 16, 2023, CSIS noted that the facility consisted of two functional areas – headquarters and storage. The headquarters area consisted of headquarters, administrative and technical buildings, a vehicle and equipment maintenance and repair facility, a small communication hub, an open-lined storage facility, and small ponds. The storage area consisted of approximately four earth-covered warehouses, 27 lined warehouses, some with buildings, two small tanks, two paved open vehicle/equipment storage parks, and a siding with a railroad line where ammunition, artillery systems, and equipment were stored and loaded or unloaded.

Even then, the satellites recorded approximately 27 railcars of various types, as well as "a modest number of storage/transportation containers and trailers located along the railroad line and the main access road." The images also showed preparations for the installation of an additional 14 shipping containers.

Just four months later, on December 20, 2023, satellites recorded a sharp increase in the number of newly constructed storage facilities: at that time, there were about 280 of them and about half of them were filled. The analysts assumed that different classes of ammunition were stored in different depots, or were distributed to specific field units.

The number of railroad cars of various types tripled to about 90, and the number of trucks at the site's entrances also increased.

In the images from February 10, 2024, the number of cars was about 80, about 35% of the storage facilities were occupied, and there was active traffic on the territory. From this, analysts concluded that Tikhoretsk remains a strategically important ammunition depot for the continuation of the war against Ukraine.

On the morning of September 21, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the downing of 101 Ukrainian drones. In addition to the base near Tikhoretsk, where, according to the governor of the Krasnodar Territory, more than 1,200 Russians had to be evacuated and the entrance to the entire district closed due to the "falling wreckage" of two drones, explosions were heard again in the Tver Region of the Russian Federation. Another GRU warehouse was hit there, this time in Oktyabrskoye.

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