According to videos circulating on social media, Russian forces may have dropped a massive vacuum bomb, known as the “father of all bombs,” on the Ukrainian city of Vovchansk. The Ukrainian InsiderUA news agency shared the footage on its Telegram channel, citing Russian military bloggers’ claims that the spectacular explosion in the footage could have been caused by the ODAB-9000, a 7,100-kilogram glide bomb, also known as the “father of all bombs.”
The bomb is so massive, that the thermobaric explosion caused by the aerosol charge equates to the destructive power of 44 tons of TNT.
However, some Ukrainian sources contradict these claims, claiming that the footage shows the impact of a smaller ODAB-3000 thermobaric bomb. According to the spokesman of the operational and tactical unit in Kharkiv, Vitaly Sarantsev, the explosion was not caused by a vacuum bomb, and the purpose of the Russian rumors was to demoralize the Ukrainian troops.
“The use of this munition requires a suitable carrier, which in theory could be a Tu-160 strategic bomber, but the movement of such an aircraft has not been recorded,” Szarancev argued.
Thermobaric, also known as vacuum bombs, use oxygen to cause intense, high-temperature explosions. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the use of such weapons in populated areas may constitute a war crime.
Independent experts cannot yet confirm exactly which type of bomb was used, but the use of thermobaric weapons in Ukraine is not at all unusual for the Russians. Sidharth Kaushal, an employee of the Royal United Services Institute Sea Power research institute told Newsweek that Russia is trying to weaken Ukraine’s defense capabilities with increasing airstrike activity, especially as winter approaches.
However, the entire city of Vovchansk has been subjected to intense bombing from the Russian side, leaving most of the city in ruins. Other videos show smaller bombs being dropped as well on the destroyed landscape, including 1,500-kilogram bombs.
In the last 24 hours alone, two people were killed and 41 were injured in Russian airstrikes in several parts of Ukraine, the Ukrainian news portal Kyiv Independent reports. According to an air force report, 15 of Ukraine’s 24 regions were attacked.
