A factory manufacturing engines for Russian tanks and other military vehicles was rocked with an explosion and massive fire yesterday, according to reports:
"A major explosion and fire has torn through a Russian factory which makes engines for Vladimir Putin's tanks and armoured vehicles.
Dramatic footage shows the moment the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant, which is in the Ural mountains close to the border with Kazakhstan, goes up in flames.
Locals reported a powerful 'explosion', and footage taken by passersby shows a fireball rising high into the sky as the factory burns.
The precise cause of the inferno is not yet known, although key Russian installations have repeatedly been hit by sabotage or kamikaze drone attacks. [snip]
The plant is under US and Ukrainian sanctions as 'an enterprise specialising in the production of diesel engines for military equipment for the needs of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation'.
It is a key supplier for a range of key military firepower such as the T-72, T-90 Proryv tanks, the BMPT Terminator, Akatsiya self-propelled artillery units, and the Msta-S and Koalitsiya-SV complexes.
The initial Russian explanation was a transformer explosion caused by a 'short circuit'." (our emphasis)
From the photos and footage contained in the report, it appears to be a lot more than a transformer explosion (but a more rational excuse than high temperatures or careless smoking). As the report notes, the factory is near Russia's border with distant Kazakhstan, making it unlikely that a Ukrainian drone hit the facility, and more likely that it's a case of sabotage. In any case, it's a blow to the Russian war machine at a critical time when the war with Ukraine enters the winter season.
