Russia has been pummeling eastern Ukrainian towns on the frontlines of the war with Soviet-era bombs. The bombs, referring to as “glide bombs,” have been rewired with modern electronics so that they can be fired by Russian warplanes from miles away.
Cities like Avdiivka, Chasiv Yar, and Vovchansk have been wrecked by such weapons, as was the Epicenter shopping complex in Kharkiv. As the Associated Press detailed, the first shock wave from a Russian bomb on May 25th shattered aisles at an Kharkiv home improvement store, while flames from a second bomb hollowed it out. A third bomb was unable to detonate, offering intel investigators the chance to trace their supply chain.
Russia has nearly unlimited supplies of the weapons, and is launching them from airfields just across the border which Ukraine has so far been unable to target.
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As Valuetainment previously reported, in late May Biden quietly gave Ukraine permission to use American weaponry within Russia’s borders. Russia interpreted this as an act of aggression, and threatened to send warships to Cuba in addition to other “asymmetrical steps” globally. Russia followed through with this threat, sending ships as well as a nuclear submarine to Havana Harbor.
The United States responded by sending a nuclear submarine to Guantanamo Bay. The US Southern Command stressed that this was a “routine port visit.” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh emphasized that Russian ships in the Havana Harbor do not pose a threat and that Russia often engages in such exercises in the region.
Store manager Oleksandr Lutsenko believes he knows Russia’s strategy for Kharkiv: “Their goal is to turn it into a ghost city, to make it so that no one will stay, that there will be nothing to defend, that it will make no sense to defend the city. They want to scare people, but they will not succeed.”
In 2024, Russia has accelerated its destruction of Ukraine’s front-line cities on an unprecedented scale using glide bombs and an ever-growing network of airstrips, per drone footage, satellite imagery, and Ukrainian files.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics and business for VT and a regular guest on The Unusual Suspects. Follow Shane’s work here.
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