Ukraine security council confirms strike on Russian military base in Novgorod Oblast – video

Russian military propagandists reported that drones may have attacked the 13th arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense in Novgorod Oblast overnight on November 19. The arsenal is located about 680 km from the Ukrainian border.

Local chats featured photos and videos purportedly from the village of Kotovo in the Okulovsky district of Novgorod Oblast. The recordings show flashes, with explosions and gunfire audible.

Locals claim that the target of the attack was a military base. Kotovo houses ammunition depots of the 13th arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate. The governor of Novgorod Oblast has not released any information about the incident.

Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Center for Counteracting Disinformation at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, confirmed the strike on the 13th arsenal of the Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Russian Federation.

According to Kovalenko, the arsenal stores ammunition for barrel artillery, mortar mines, rockets for Grad, Smerch, and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems, as well as Iskander missiles, North Korean KN23 missiles, anti-aircraft missiles for S-300, S-400 systems, and ammunition for the Tor complex.

"In Belgorod Oblast, a plant of the EFKO company was attacked. While publicly producing food, it also manufactures cargo drones used by the Russian army for military purposes," he added.

Overnight on November 18, a powerful explosion occurred near a large weapons depot in the town of Karachev, Bryansk Oblast.

Later, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed the strike on the Russian arsenal of the 1046th Material and Technical Support Center near Karachev.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine has long-range strike capabilities against Russia but declined to confirm that the Russian arsenal in Bryansk Oblast was hit by American long-range ATACMS missiles.