Russia may be using thermobaric vacuum bombs in a “bunker-busting” role to destroy Ukrainian defensive positions – but the oxygen-fueled devices can also inflict a brutal death on casualties by sucking the air out of their lungs, an expert said in a new report.
On Monday, Ukraine’s Ambassador the US Oksana Markarova accused Moscow of using such bombs during a plea to Congress for more help in defending against the Russian invasion.
“They used the vacuum bomb today, which is actually prohibited by the Geneva convention,” Markarova said after a meeting with legislators. “The devastation that Russia is trying to inflict on Ukraine is large.”
Thermobaric explosives, also known as aerosol or fuel air bombs, use oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature blast that typically produces a wave of a significantly longer duration than that of a conventional device.
Marcus Hellyer, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told the UK’s Guardian that it was only “a matter of time” before it’s independently confirmed that Russian forces have been using the bombs in Ukraine.
The first stage of a thermobaric bomb blast distributes an aerosol made up of carbon-based fuel and tiny metal particles. A second charge then sparks a fireball and a vacuum as it sucks oxygen from the air, the outlet reported.
The devastating blast wave is capable of vaporizing people.
Hellyer suggested that Russia may be using very large, air-launched versions of the bombs in a “bunker-buster” role to destroy Ukrainian caves and tunnel complexes.
The US has reportedly used thermobaric bombs against al-Qaida in Afghanistan, but Hellyer said Russia has a longer track record with them than the West.
“Russia has systems right across the spectrum … from quite small tactical weapons, to huge, air-launched bombs,” he told the Guardian. “The separatists that Russia was supporting in the Donbas region, they have been using them for a number of years now.”
In 2000, Human Rights Watch denounced Moscow for its reported use of the weapons in Chechnya as “a dangerous escalation” with “important humanitarian implications,” according to the outlet.
“They are not illegal even though their effects can be pretty horrific, because of that effect of creating a vacuum and sucking the air out of the lungs of defenders,” Hellyer said.
“One of the things we know about Russian tactics is that they are willing to destroy everything,” he said.
“It’s clear that the Ukrainians are hunkering down in some of the cities … as that continues the Russians are going to resort more and more to using … whatever weapons they have including thermobaric weapons in built-up urban areas,” the expert added.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said she had seen reports but did not have confirmation that Russia had used thermobaric devices and cluster bombs, which are explosives that release smaller bomblets, Reuters reported.
“If that were true, it would potentially be a war crime,” she told a press briefing, noting that there are international organizations that would assess that and President Joe Biden’s administration “would look to be a part of that conversation.”
The Russian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment by Reuters.
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