"The scariest is the thermobaric bomb ODAB-1500!": The battle for the islands of the Dnipro River enters an active phase

Novine.Info: Russian "smart bombs" have approached the border of the Nikolaev region

Author: Konstantin Orshansky

Western sources report that special forces from Ukraine and Russia have become significantly active again in the Dnipro Delta. According to the latest military report from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukrainian special operations units are trying to break through to the left bank (eastern side) of the Dnipro River again. American open-source intelligence analysts even call this an "offensive": Ukrainian special forces have been observed in the Antonovskiy car bridge area north of Alyoshkino.

On June 17-18, Russian forces repelled an attack by Ukrainian special forces on the Tendrovsky Spit (southwest of Kherson on the Black Sea coast). On June 26, Colonel Ruslan Muzychuk, a spokesperson for the National Guard of Ukraine, stated that Russian forces are focusing their efforts on reconnaissance and control of the islands in the Dnipro Delta.

ISW reported that units of the 61st Naval Infantry Brigade of the Russian Northern Fleet, the 127th Independent Reconnaissance Brigade of the 22nd Army, and the 104th Airborne Division were active in the Kherson direction.

Serbian news website Novine.Info reported that the Russian Aerospace Forces are frequently using high-precision "smart bombs" to strike targets near the border of the Nikolaev region. The use of glide (glide-guided) bombs on the southern front poses a serious threat to the Ukrainian air defense system.

Despite the strengthening of air defense deployments by the Ukrainian army near the Nikolaev region border, Russian "smart bombs" can still hit targets adjacent to the border of the region. According to Novine.Info, Russian forces launched an air strike on the village of Tavricheskoye in Kherson region, which is just a few kilometers from the Nikolaev region border, and the target destroyed was a Ukrainian military training center.

It is worth noting that parts of the Nikolaev region (such as the Karkinitsky Spit) are currently under Russian control, making it impossible for the Ukrainian navy to effectively use the Ochakiv port base. Marcin Gavida, a military commentator from the Polish magazine Defence24, wrote that FAB bombs equipped with UMGK guidance kits have become a "nightmare" for Ukrainian forces on the southern front, and their threat level is comparable to that of FPV drones previously launched from the Karkinitsky Spit.

FAB bombs allow Russian tactical aviation (especially the Su-34 frontline bombers) to conduct attacks from outside the range of Ukrainian air defenses, forcing the Ukrainian army to push its missile defense systems closer to the front lines, which makes the air defense units vulnerable to Russian fire.

Image: Su-34 fighter-bomber carrying munitions during a combat mission.

Defence24 cited a source within the Ukrainian military stating: "The Ukrainian military has publicly admitted that the activity and efficiency of the Russian Aerospace Forces' tactical aviation have suddenly surged, which has become a serious issue on the front line."

Defence24 noted that the mass production of UMGK guidance kits has made it possible to scale up the conversion of old FAB bombs into glide bombs: at least 100-120 glide aerial bombs (more than 130 on some days) fall on Ukrainian positions every day. In addition, the use of FAB-1500 and ODAB-1500 has increased significantly, and some UMGK bombs are also equipped with self-destruct devices, which explode hours after being dropped, increasing the difficulty of demining and the risk for engineering units.

Initially, the UMGK was equipped with the old FAB-500 (UMGK-500 M62), followed by FAB-250 and RBK-500 cluster bombs, then heavy FAB-1500 and ODAB-500P thermobaric bombs. Recently, the Ukrainian side mentioned the appearance of devastating ODAB-1500 thermobaric bombs on the front line, and the UMGK has even been integrated into the massive FAB-3000 ("Father of Bombs").

Defence24 pointed out: "The use of heavy FAB-1500 bombs by the Russians to bomb Ukrainian positions at the coke chemical plant is particularly deadly, with such bombs accounting for half of the glide bomb usage on the front line during certain periods." Frontline Ukrainian soldiers complain that UMGK bombs (especially the heavy FAB-1500 bombs) not only cause significant material losses and casualties but also often lead to indirect trauma, such as blast injuries, brain contusions, and psychological trauma.

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Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7521268533368996391/

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