KRAMATORSK, Ukraine – Russia has freely used one of its most feared conventional weapons in the fighting in eastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian military commanders, medics, British officials and videos from combat operations. school.
The weapon, a rail-mounted rocket artillery system nicknamed Solntsepek, or Heatwave, fires thermobaric warheads that explode with tremendous force, sending potentially lethal shock waves into the bunkers or trenches where soldiers would be safe.
“You feel the ground shake,” said Colonel Yevhen Shamataliuk, commander of Ukraine’s 95th Brigade, whose soldiers were shot by Russian Heatwave weapons during fighting this month near the town of Izium.
“It is very destructive,” said Colonel Shamataliuk. “It destroyed the bunker. They just collapsed before those inside. “
The United States and other militaries also deploy thermobaric warheads in rockets and rocket-propelled grenades. And the Ukrainian military said on April 5 that it had fired Heatwave thermobaric missiles from a captured system towards the Russian military, with the intention of burning them with their own weapons, during the fighting near Izium .
Thermobaric weapons are not banned and they are not covered by the Geneva Convention, a series of international treaties governing war. The Russian military has deployed Heatwave weapons during the war in Syria, but their use in Ukraine has become systematic, according to the Ukrainian military and video footage of air strikes on towns in the region. eastern Ukraine.
Such explosives, also known as fuel-air bombs or vacuum bombs, disperse a flammable mist or powder, which is then ignited and ignited in the air. The result is a powerful explosion followed by a vacuum partly due to oxygen being drawn from the air as the fuel burns.
Ukrainian soldiers who were trapped in the explosion and survived suffered burns and concussions, Sgt said. Anna Federchuk, an ambulance worker based in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, who treated casualties from Heatwave strikes.
“It’s a mixed diagnosis,” she said of typical casualties from a Heatwave explosion. “The burn is deep and severe.”
The Russian weapon carries a rocket canister on top of a tank-like tracked vehicle. It can fire single rockets or a terrifying volley. However, like many Russian weapons deployed during the Ukraine war, the Heatwave system may not be as effective or as decisive in combat as Russian military propaganda claims.
Developed in the 1980s and once considered a great and terrifying invention of late Soviet military power, the Heatwave, officially known as the Tos-1 heavy flamethrower, has its drawbacks. .
With a range of only six miles, it had to be maneuvered close to the front to fire. There, it was vulnerable to Ukrainian ambushes. In March, a drone video showed Ukrainian soldiers detonating Heatwave weapons during an ambush outside Brovary, on the outskirts of Kyiv.
The attack on this vehicle sent its missiles straight into the ranks of the Russian armored vehicles, although it is unclear if any of the missiles were destroyed.
Their use near the front has also allowed Ukraine to acquire some weapons. Videos have surfaced online purporting to show Ukrainian tractor drivers pulling captured Heatwave weapons far ahead. Ukrainian soldiers announced on social networks that they had seized five weapon systems as trophies.
The Ukrainian military also says that the Russians encountered a heatwave friendly fire incident where it spewed highly destructive but unguided missiles.
“The leadership of the 97th Infantry Battalion expressed satisfaction with the actions of the occupiers of Russia,” the Ukrainian military said in a satirical statement on May 8 after declaring it an attack. friendly fire in the Zaporizhzhia area that resulted in the death of a Russian soldier. “Such actions are positively perceived and supported by the Ukrainian military in all respects. We understand that there is a tradition of cooking shish in May. “
Maria Varennikova contribution report.
