On the night of June 6, during intense drone attacks on Kronstadt and targets in St. Petersburg, a massive fire broke out, accompanied by prolonged explosions, in the Lomonosovsky District of the Leningrad Oblast in the Russian Federation. The epicenter of the incident was a closed military facility in the village of Velikaya Izhora on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. This was reported by Glavkom.
A large-scale detonation of ammunition depots began in the settlement, causing panic among local residents. According to residents of Velikaya Izhora, the first explosions occurred after drones appeared in the sky. Following the initial explosions, a continuous chain reaction of detonations began.
People found themselves in an information vacuum, as in the early hours no one could understand what was happening. The village of Velikaya Izhora has been an important military hub since Soviet times. It is home to the 51st Arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense and large weapons storage bases for the Baltic Fleet.
Thousands of tons of ammunition were stored on the territory of this restricted facility: large-caliber artillery shells, mines, anti-ship missiles, and charges for air defense systems. Judging by the nature and duration of the explosions, one of the key sectors of the arsenal likely suffered significant damage.
Russian authorities and the Russian Ministry of Defense are, as usual, trying to downplay the scale of the disaster. The governor of the Leningrad Region has long refrained from commenting.
