Russia claims significant casualties among Ukrainian soldiers from 'vacuum bomb' strike, Kyiv dismisses as false
A high-ranking official in the Russian Armed Forces has alleged that around 300 Ukrainian soldiers were casualties of a precise airstrike using a vacuum bomb, as reported by Russia's Defense Ministry. However, Kyiv has labeled these assertions as baseless and without merit.
Russia claimed to have killed a significant number of Ukrainian soldiers using a powerful "vacuum bomb", a claim that Ukraine quickly dismissed as nonsense.
According to Russia's Defense Ministry, the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces informed Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that around 300 soldiers were killed by an aerial munition strike during a meeting on Saturday.
The spokesperson of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, Andriy Yusov, told CNN the claims were “absolute nonsense and propaganda.”
(Note: The structure of the original content has been maintained with a simpler and more concise wording.)
CNN is unable to confirm the incident. Colonel General Alexei Kim mentioned that the strike occurred at the deployment point of the 'Kraken' nationalist formation, which is a special unit of the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence. However, he did not specify the exact location of the strike.
Kim said a “volumetric detonation bomb” was used in the airstrike, RIA Novosti reported Saturday.
Volumetric weapons are also known as vacuum bombs, thermobaric weapons or fuel-air explosives.
According to the Lieber Institute for Law & Warfare at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, the destruction caused by a thermobaric weapon is a result of the blast wave it generates and the vacuum created by the fuel-air mixture drawing in oxygen for the detonation.
The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation states that the force of the blast is powerful enough to destroy buildings and cause internal organ damage. Even walls or caves offer little protection against the devastating impact of a thermobaric weapon.
Details of the Russian airstrike were revealed during a meeting at the Joint Group of Forces headquarters. The meeting was attended by Shoigu, who listened to reports from commanders about the current situation in the "zone of the special military operation," which is Russia's term for its war in Ukraine.
Kim did not specify the exact timing of the strike, but he mentioned that in the past week alone, several targets were successfully destroyed. These included three American Patriot complexes, a Vampire multiple rocket launcher, over 10 foreign-made artillery systems, as well as fuel and ammunition depots.
Kim informed Shoigu during the meeting that Ukraine is facing major losses in equipment and manpower due to the use of advanced weapons and drones, the ministry reported.
This story has been updated with the latest information.
Editor's P/S:
The alleged
