Sprinkled with snow and sitting on a tanker truck, this is the threatening image of Russia’s deadly weapon that will instill fear in Ukraine – and the world.
After three days of stubborn defense by the Ukrainian military thwarted the advance of Vladimir PutinRussian forces yesterday the Russian president deployed a formidable missile system on the battlefield.
Footage checked by the American television operator CNN showed the Russian army moving TOS-1 Buratino missiles to the front line.
Capable of firing a volley of thermobaric flamethrowers, the weapon can destroy anything within a radius of 300 yards. British military sources warn that this could kill tens of thousands of civilians.
Sprinkled with snow and sitting on a tanker truck, this is the threatening image of Russia’s deadly weapon that will instill fear in Ukraine – and in the world.
The explosion of the rocket produces a wall of flame, followed by a vacuum, which can cause fatal internal damage to the lungs and other internal organs.
Among the world’s deadliest non-nuclear weapons, powerful thermobaric devices were shot yesterday on the back of a truck just ten miles from Russia’s border with northern Ukraine.
They are believed to have headed for the city of Kharkiv, 250 miles east of Kiev, where Ukrainian troops are fiercely resisting Russian forces.
General Sir Richard Barnes, a former head of the UK Joint Forces Command, said last night that it remained unclear whether Putin would order his troops to use weapons, but if he did, the consequences would be devastating.
The rocket blast produces a wall of flame, which is followed by a vacuum that can cause deadly internal damage to the lungs and other internal organs.
“The release of thermobaric weapons and the massive concentrated use of heavy artillery will cause the indiscriminate, unnecessary and unjustified slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent people,” he said.
“The thing we never knew – and no one knows – is the intent behind it, because no one understands what’s on Putin’s mind.
Russian troops fighting around Kharkov in northeastern Ukraine have sunk after attempts to encircle the city were repulsed by Ukrainian troops, who launched a devastating counterattack against Russian armored vehicles using British anti-tank missiles.
Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian lawmaker, said yesterday that Putin’s military commanders expected to take over Ukraine within one to four days.
He said the takeover of Kharkiv was at the heart of the plan, adding: “They are counting on Kharkiv to surrender first. Other cities will follow suit to avoid bloodshed.
CNN footage shows the thermobaric weapon system, which is mounted on a T-72 tank chassis, traveling on the back of a tank transporter at 13.20 local time.
They are believed to have headed for the city of Kharkiv, 250 miles east of Kiev, where Ukrainian troops are fiercely resisting Russian forces.
General Sir Richard Barnes, former head of the Joint Forces Command, said last night that it remained unclear whether Putin would order his troops to use weapons, but if he did, the consequences would be devastating.
Capable of firing a volley of thermobaric flamethrowers, the weapon can destroy anything within a radius of 300 yards. British military sources warn that this could kill tens of thousands of civilians
A thermobar bomb dropped by the United States on the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2017 weighed 21,600 pounds and left a crater more than 1,000 feet wide after it exploded six feet above the ground.
Despite scenes of civilian apartment blocks affected by the shelling, military experts say the Russian military is fighting more restrained tactics than usual.
Russia’s offensives in Chechnya in the 1990s and, more recently, in Syria have been marked by horrific brutality and attacks on civilians. “There is ruthlessness in the way the Russians are behaving in conflict… and they have not yet fully shown that ruthlessness,” said Professor Michael Clark, former director general of the Royal Defense Institute’s Defense Intelligence Trust.
“But we know they have the hardware and certainly the psychology to do it in a much more brutal way, and unfortunately they may face this moment of decision around Kiev in the next few hours.”
A Western official said: “The Ukrainians have done a very effective job of slowing down the Russian advance. So far, their goals have not been achieved. We fear that if the delays continue, the Russians will resort to indiscriminate weapons, such as thermobaric weapons, to make faster progress.
General Barons said the use of heavy weapons could turn Russia’s population against Putin. “What is emerging now is that many Russians, including important Russians, are wondering how crazy Putin is leading them now,” he said.
“And they are open to doing something about it, in a way that is not open to us.”
Intense fighting continued in the south of the country yesterday, including in Kherson, north of Crimea, and in the Black Sea ports of Nikolaev, Odessa and near Mariupol.
Yesterday it became clear that Russia has carried out airborne landings, as thousands of soldiers are storming the coast of the Ukrainian coast of the Sea of Azov west of Mariupol. The attack appears to be an attempt to cut off the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.
Russian forces say they have taken Melitopol, a city of 150,000 in southern Ukraine, although this has been disputed by British officials. The Russian airborne forces also landed near the city of Vasilkov, about 25 miles south of Kiev, on Friday night and tried to take over the air base, but were repulsed.