Moment Ukrainian warehouse full of Western ammunition bursts into flames after Russian missile strike – as Kremlin claims to have seized villages in Donetsk region

This is when Russia claims to have attacked a Ukrainian arms depot filled with ammunition supplied by the West.

Images shared on social media show the Odesa depot being consumed by a raging inferno after Russia hit it with an Iskander-M missile.

Mini explosions, believed to be munitions exploding, can be heard as smoke fills the night sky over the port city.

The channel Colonel Cassad Telegram with 896,000 followers reported: ‘There is a fire in Bugayevskaya [street] in Odessa after a strike.

‘Based on the images, ammunition depots are on fire, secondary explosions can be heard…

“Patterns fly in different directions.”

Missiles, part of the Iskander-M missile complex, are seen during a demonstration at the International Military-Technical Forum ARMY-2019 at Alabino Range in the Moscow region, Russia, June 25, 2019

Major Ukrainian news channel Unian said that “the cause of the fire is unknown.”

The warehouse complex was located close to an important railway line. Initial reports did not provide details about the type of ammunition believed to be in the warehouses.

It comes as Putin said on Sunday that the Russian Defense Ministry was working on various ways to respond if the United States and its NATO allies helped Ukraine to invade deep into Russia with Western long-range missiles.

The invasion has sparked the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the depths of the Cold War, and Russian officials say the war is now entering its most dangerous phase.

Russia has been signaling to the United States and its allies for weeks that if they allow Ukraine to attack deep into Russian territory with Western-supplied missiles, Moscow will view this as a major escalation.

Images shared on social media show the Odesa depot being consumed by a raging inferno after Russia hit it with an Iskander-M missile

Mini explosions are heard, believed to be ordnance exploding, as smoke fills the night sky over the port city

Major Ukrainian news channel Unian said ‘the cause of the fire is unknown’

Putin said on September 12 that Western approval for such a move would mean “the direct involvement of NATO countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine” because military infrastructure and NATO personnel would have to be involved when aiming and firing the missiles.

Putin said it was too early to say exactly how Russia would react to such a move, but that Moscow would have to respond accordingly and that various options were being explored.

“(The Russian Defense Ministry) is thinking about how to respond to the possible long-range attacks on Russian territory, it will provide a range of answers,” Putin told Russian state TV’s top Kremlin reporter Pavel Zarubin.

With Russia advancing at its fastest pace in eastern Ukraine since the first months of the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has begged the West to allow Kiev to fire deep into Russia with Western missiles.

The United States has not said publicly whether it will allow Ukraine to attack Russia, but some American officials are deeply skeptical that this would make a significant difference in the war.

Ukrainian forces already regularly attack deep into Russia with long-range drones.

Putin, who sent thousands of troops to Ukraine in 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine, has framed the war as a battle between Russia and a declining West, which he says ignored Russian interests after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Russian soldiers load an Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile launcher at a firing position as part of a Russian military exercise designed to train troops in the use of tactical nuclear weapons

Russian troops load an Iskander missile as part of exercises to train the military in the use of tactical nuclear weapons at an undisclosed location in Russia

Ukraine and its Western allies say Putin has unleashed an imperial-style war against its smaller neighbor and have repeatedly said that if Russia wins the war, autocratic countries around the world will be emboldened.

Just weeks before the US presidential election, Putin changed Russia’s nuclear doctrine

in what the Kremlin said was an attempt to signal Russia’s concerns about Western discussions about missile attacks from Ukraine.

Asked whether the West had heard Russia’s warnings, Putin told Zarubin: “I hope they have heard.” Because of course we will also have to make some decisions for ourselves.’

Putin said that only NATO officers could fire such weapons at Russia and that they would have to use Western satellite data to target the weapons, so the question is really “whether they will allow themselves to attack deep into Russian territory or not . That’s the question.’

U.S. officials say the United States is not seeking to escalate the conflict.

It is unclear how a new US president will handle the war: former US President Donald Trump has said he will end the war in Ukraine, while Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris says she will continue to support Ukraine.