"Gift from heaven" – one and a half ton bomb "lost" over Donetsk region

Russian aviation continues to “lose” bombs – this time one of them, the heaviest in the arsenal of the Russian Air Force, crashed onto a store in Yenakievo, Donetsk region.

Having broken through the roof and destroyed half the store, the FAB-1500, fortunately, did not explode. Otherwise, in place of the store there would have been a funnel about 20 meters in diameter and 6 meters deep. Ukrainian soldier Vlad, fighting in the Donetsk region, explained to the Financial Times: “One such bomb destroys several buildings, calling them 'exceptionally scary and deadly'.”

In the occupied town of Yenakievo, Donetsk region, a super-heavy FAB-1500 aerial bomb fell on a store, it did not detonate. pic.twitter.com/RvMQxGAKcb

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 9, 2024

Last year, the Russian Federation began converting Soviet bombs into glide bombs, adding deployable wings and a satellite navigation system. Airplanes can launch them from 60–70 km from the front line, after which the shells fly to the target. According to analysts from the Deep State group close to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and Ukrainian military personnel, the SBU has virtually no ways to effectively counter glide bombs. Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba says, quotes The Moscow Times:

“They are very simple in nature, they cannot be suppressed [средствами радиоэлектронной борьбы]you can’t hide from them, the only way is to shoot down a bomber carrying such a bomb.”

Since the beginning of this year, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Russian aircraft have dropped 3,500 glide bombs on Ukrainian positions—16 times more than in all of 2023. In the third week of March alone, about 700 such shells were fired. Typically, the Russian Air Force uses FAB-500 and FAB-1500 bombs, which carry 500 and 1500 kg of explosives, respectively.

At the end of March, Russian planes dropped two bombs in the Belgorod region. On March 28, a high-explosive aerial bomb (FAB-250) was discovered near the village of Bezymeno. More than 140 village residents were evacuated for a day, and by evening the bomb was removed and destroyed. The second bomb, FAB-500, was found in the village of Nechaevka. The village residents were not evacuated.

In February, another bomb fell in the Belgorod region, and the one that fell in January on the village of Petropavlovka in the Voronezh region exploded, damaging more than 100 houses, a school, a cultural center, an administration building, five cars and a tractor. Four people were injured.

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