Open-source seismic recordings published on Wednesday and Thursday, among them by the Norwegian seismic monitoring group NORSAR, picked up 13 explosions around Toropets taking place during or in the hours after the Ukrainian attack. Each “seismic event” registered at between 2.0-2.8 magnitude, with energy comparable to a small earthquake, news reports said.
Outlying homes in three villages located a half kilometer or less from the north fence of the facility were damaged, according to news reports. Some local social media reported the village Tsikarevo, less than 300 meters from Toropets’ northeastern security fence, was completely destroyed. The local television news platform RBC-TV reported fires had surrounded and consumed several villages and towns, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes.
Social media recorded smoke and fires burning throughout the day, and explosions continuing for hours as individual munitions cooked off. Some video showed people identifying themselves as residents of Tsikarevo and stating they had no way to escape the conflagration but by boat via a nearby lake, because explosions at Toropets had flattened nearby forests and made all roads impassable.
Depending on how much explosives went up, it could be in the running for one of the largest man-made non-nuclear explosions.
Estimate was 30KT stored there. Most of it went up, even in the hardened bunker sections.
The north west section was completely obliterated. A lot of that was just out in the open so I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the massive fireball.
For reference, Hiroshima was 15KT but obviously this was cooking off for a long time after that big blast.