Video Shows Huge Strike on Russian Ammunition Depot, Ukraine Says

New video shows Ukrainian forces striking a Russian ammunitions depot in the Russian-held Kherson region of the country in an attack reportedly using U.S.-supplied HIMARS missiles.

The footage from the Ukrainian government shows a large explosion reaching into the air. Ukrainian officials have also claimed responsibility for destroying the ammo depot in Nova Kakhovka in Kherson, southern Ukraine.

Kherson is currently under Russian control and officials from the Moscow-installed administration there claimed the strike was conducted using the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), which the U.S. has provided to Ukraine, according to a Reuters report on Tuesday.

At least seven people have been killed and dozens of others wounded in the overnight missile attack on Nova Kakhovka.

The missiles destroyed warehouses containing saltpeter—a chemical used in the manufacture of fertilizer and gunpowder—causing a large explosion, while Ukrainian officials said their forces had destroyed the depot.

Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian administration in Odesa, wrote on Telegram that Nova Kakhovka was now "minus" its ammo depot.

Radio Svoboda, the Russian-language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, shared images to Twitter that the service said showed before and after satellite images of the area around the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station.

The second image showed significant damage to the area and Radio Svoboda reported that HIMARS had been used.

Twitter user The Intel Crab, who monitors the war in Ukraine and whose work has been cited by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies among others, shared a satellite image from NASA's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS).

"The explosion in Nova Kakhovka was so large that it overloaded the sensors onboard NASA's VIIRS satellite. Note the large cluster of white pixels," he wrote.

Vladimir Leontyev, head of the Russian-installed Kakhovka District military-civilian administration, was quoted by Russian news outlet TASS as saying: "There are already seven dead for sure and about 60 wounded."

"There are still many people under the rubble. The injured are being taken to the hospital, but many people are blocked in their apartments and houses," Leontyev said.

The Moscow Times, an independent Russian news outlet, reported on Monday that the effectiveness of Ukraine's HIMARS was a cause for concern in the Kremlin.

Igor Girkin, a former commander of separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, reportedly said that Russia had suffered "large losses in both men and equipment" in less than a week.

"The Russian air defense systems... turned out to be ineffective against massive strikes by HIMARS missiles," Girkin said on Telegram.

Separately, Russian Major General Artem Nasbulin, the chief of staff of the 22nd Army Corps, was reportedly killed in a strike involving HIMARS at his military headquarters in Kherson this week.

The U.S. plans to send four more HIMARS to Ukraine as part of a new $400 million weapons package, bringing the total number of HIMARS at Ukraine's disposal to 12, according to a Department of Defense official who spoke to reporters on Friday on condition of anonymity.

Newsweek has asked the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment.