Zelenskiy Says 'Victory Plan' Ready As Drone Attack Targets Arms Depot In Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on September 18 that Kyiv has "fully prepared" its "victory plan" to end the war with Russia and the most important thing now is the determination to implement it.

All points of the plan have been "worked out," Zelenskiy said in his evening address.

"There is and cannot be any alternative to peace, any freezing of the war or any other manipulations that will simply move Russian aggression to another stage. We need reliable and long-term security for Ukraine, and therefore for all of Europe," the president said.

The Ukrainian leader said last week that he planned to discuss the plan with U.S. President Joe Biden this month. He also said he would present it to U.S. presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Zelenskiy is expected to be in the United States next week for the UN General Assembly meeting.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has dragged on for more than 30 months, and Zelenskiy's announcement came as Ukraine controls parts of Russia's Kursk region and as Moscow has pressed an advance into eastern Ukraine.

Zelenskiy added that "there cannot be any alternative to peace, any freezing of the war or any other manipulations that will simply move the Russian aggression to another stage. We need reliable and lasting security for Ukraine, and therefore for the whole of Europe."

Zelenskiy has said he aims to host another international peace summit outlining his vision to end the war in November, and that Russia is to be invited.

His comments came after a suspected Ukrainian strike reportedly involving more than 100 drones rocked Russia's Tver region after an arms depot was hit and set off a string of violent explosions and caused a fire 6 kilometers wide.

Emergency services launched a partial evacuation of local residents on September 18 hours after the overnight strike that appeared to target Toropets, a town about 400 kilometers west of Moscow that hosts two Russian military units and an arms depot.

The Astra Telegram channel and other social media published videos that showed massive explosions and flames erupting into the night sky near the town of Toropets, located in the west of the Tver region. Other footage posted on social media showed rows of apartment buildings in the town with windows blown out from blast waves.

Blasts At Arms Depot Shake Russia's Tver Region During Ukrainian Drone Attack

Footage later posted on social media showed large plumes of smoke rising from the scene and rows of apartment buildings in Toropets with windows blown out from blast waves.

RFE/RL's Schemes project received satellite images from Planet Labs showing smoke over the territory of Toropets.

Earlier, satellite imagery from NASA showed multiple heat sources from the location and earthquake monitoring stations picked up seismic waves equal to a minor earthquake.

Tver regional Governor Igor Rudenya was quoted by the local government as saying in the afternoon that no deaths or serious injuries had been reported as a result of the incident, which he earlier said was caused when debris from a downed drone sparked a fire. He also said evacuated residents were being allowed to return home and all public services and infrastructure were operational.

"The air-defense system worked, the UAVs were shot down, and a fire occurred when they fell," Rudenya wrote on Telegram around 3:30 a.m. local time, without saying what was burning. Rudenya said Russian air defenses were working to repel a "massive drone attack."

Reports indicated that the town is home to two Russian military units, one of which has been targeted by drone strikes twice in the past six months. Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported in 2018 that an arms depot was being constructed in Toropets, which has a population of around 11,000 people.

While Kyiv has not officially commented on the incident, a source in Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on condition of anonymity that the SBU in cooperation with Ukraine's Intelligence and Special Operations Force launched the attack and "wiped the depot off the face of the Earth." The source said the depot stored Iskander and Tochka-U tactical missile systems, antiaircraft missiles, and artillery ammunition.

"The SBU, together with its counterparts from the Defense Forces, continues to methodically reduce the enemy's missile potential, which it uses to destroy Ukrainian cities," the source said.

Other reports cited Ukrainian intelligence sources saying the arms depot held significant stocks of ballistic missiles obtained by Russia from North Korea as well as glide bombs, and that an area 6 kilometers wide was engulfed in flames.

Russian state media reported early in the morning that kindergartens and schools were temporarily closed in the Zapadnodvinsk district, which borders the Toropetsk district in the Tver region, without indicating why.

Residents of the village of Tsikarevo, which is located along a lake to the east of Toropets and only 200 meters from the arms depot, were initially experiencing difficulties being evacuated and were awaiting help. RFE/RL's North Realities reported that locals had written on local chat groups that safe access was only possible by boat and that "there was nothing left of the village."

One local wrote that people were stranded on the water waiting for help, and described seeing minor damage to homes in neighboring villages. Another, however, said that he had become "homeless."

Russia's Defense Ministry has not specifically commented on the incident, saying only that 54 Ukrainian drones had targeted five western Russian regions overnight and that all of the drones had been destroyed.

SEE ALSO: Interactive Map: Ukraine's Surprise Invasion Of Russia's Kursk Region

The Defense Ministry, without mentioning the Tver region, said half the drones had been shot down over the Kursk region, where Russian forces have launched a counterattack to push out Ukrainian forces that entered the region and took control of large swaths of Russian territory in a surprise incursion in August.

The rest of the drones, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, were shot down over the Bryansk, Smolensk, Oryol, and Belgorod regions.

Regional authorities in the western Smolensk region bordering Belarus and in the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine also said drones had been shot down.

Kyiv has previously said its strikes against Russia are intended to hit military, energy, and transportation infrastructure that are key to Russia's ongoing attack on Ukraine.

Meanwhile in Ukraine, Russian drone and missile strikes targeted energy facilities in the northeastern city of Sumy. One person was killed in Kropyvnytskiy, the capital of the Kirovohrad region in central Ukraine.