Moscow: The Russian invasion of Ukraine is the biggest conflict Europe has seen since World War II, with Russia launching a multi-pronged offensive across the country.
Russian forces have destroyed extensive areas in Ukraine with airstrikes and massive rocket and artillery bombardments, resulting in a large number of casualties.
Here’s a look at some of the weapons being used in the conflict.
warships and missiles
The Russian military has used warplanes and Kalibr (expansion of intelligence) cruise missiles to hit facilities across the country.
The Kalibr is a precision weapon, but Ukrainian military facilities and government buildings apparently targeted by those missiles in Kyiv and Kharkiv are located close to residential areas, resulting in civilian casualties.
The same applies to missiles carried by Russian warplanes, which targeted military infrastructure in attacks involving collateral damage.
To hit key targets, the Russian military also uses Iskander missiles that have a range of up to 500 kilometers (about 300 mi) and carry a more powerful warhead that can destroy large buildings and some fortified facilities. . Some of the Iskander missiles were reportedly fired from the territory of Russian ally Belarus, which has served as a platform for a Russian offensive.
Rocket and Artillery
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky And other officials have accused the Russian military of indiscriminately shelling residential buildings, schools and hospitals across the country.
Photos from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, which were verified by The Associated Press, showed what appeared to be a barrage of Russian rockets hitting residential buildings in an attack that killed and injured several civilians.
Soviet-designed Grad (Hell), Smorch (Tornado) and Urgan (Hurricane) multiple rocket launchers are designed to fire a salvo of powerful rockets to destroy concentrations of soldiers or military equipment . Their use against populated areas would inevitably result in heavy casualties and major damage to civilian infrastructure.
The Russian military also has powerful Soviet-designed artillery units, oddly named after flowers, such as the self-propelled 203-mm Peony and 152-mm Hyacinth and Acacia self-propelled howitzers.
Moscow has claimed it was targeting only military bases and infrastructure, but AP has reported widespread damage to civilian infrastructure and residential areas in Kyiv, Kharkiv and several other cities and towns across Ukraine. Russian officials have alleged that the Ukrainian military has widely deployed heavy weapons in residential areas for civilians to use as shields, a claim that cannot be independently verified.
United Nations Head of Human Rights, Michelle BacheletSpeaking Thursday at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, “the majority of civilian casualties were caused by heavy artillery, multi-launch rocket systems and air strikes in populated areas, with reports of the use of cluster weapons attacking civilian targets.” . .” He did not specify which party would have used them.
Cluster munitions and thermobaric weapons
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of using cluster weapons, a charge denied by the Kremlin.
Such weapons are designed to target enemy troops and weapons over a wide area, and their use in populated areas would inevitably result in mass casualties among civilians.
Cluster bombs, rockets and artillery shells open into the air, releasing submunitions or ‘bullets’, which are scattered over a large area and hit multiple targets at once.
Beyond the initial impact, bombings have a high rate of failure, which poses the risk of killing people and crippling them long after they have been fired.
Thermobaric weapons consist of a fuel container and two separate explosive charges, with the first detonating to disperse the fuel particles and the second igniting the fuel and oxygen dispersed in the air, a blast wave of extreme pressure and heat. which creates a partial vacuum. an enclosed space. This makes the weapon particularly lethal to people in enclosed spaces.
The Pentagon has said Russian mobile launchers for thermobaric weapons were spotted inside Ukraine, but could not confirm their use.
arsenal of ukraine
The Ukrainian military relied on a similar assortment of Soviet-made multiple rocket launchers and howitzers to the Russian military.
It does not have sophisticated long-range precision weapons like Russia’s Iskander ballistic missile and Kalibr cruise missile.
The Ukrainian military has Soviet-era Tochka-U short-range ballistic missiles, which have a powerful warhead but poor accuracy compared to the latest Russian weapons.
In addition to its old Soviet-built arsenal, Ukraine has received large shipments of Western weapons, such as the US-made Javelin anti-tank missile and the shoulder-launched Stinger anti-aircraft missile. Ukrainian officials said the country’s military used them to inflict heavy damage on invading Russian forces.
The Ukrainian military has also used Turkish-supplied Bayraktar drones prior to the conflict. It has released a video showing Bayraktar’s attack against a Russian military convoy.
Russian forces have destroyed extensive areas in Ukraine with airstrikes and massive rocket and artillery bombardments, resulting in a large number of casualties.
Here’s a look at some of the weapons being used in the conflict.
warships and missiles
The Russian military has used warplanes and Kalibr (expansion of intelligence) cruise missiles to hit facilities across the country.
The Kalibr is a precision weapon, but Ukrainian military facilities and government buildings apparently targeted by those missiles in Kyiv and Kharkiv are located close to residential areas, resulting in civilian casualties.
The same applies to missiles carried by Russian warplanes, which targeted military infrastructure in attacks involving collateral damage.
To hit key targets, the Russian military also uses Iskander missiles that have a range of up to 500 kilometers (about 300 mi) and carry a more powerful warhead that can destroy large buildings and some fortified facilities. . Some of the Iskander missiles were reportedly fired from the territory of Russian ally Belarus, which has served as a platform for a Russian offensive.
Rocket and Artillery
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky And other officials have accused the Russian military of indiscriminately shelling residential buildings, schools and hospitals across the country.
Photos from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, which were verified by The Associated Press, showed what appeared to be a barrage of Russian rockets hitting residential buildings in an attack that killed and injured several civilians.
Soviet-designed Grad (Hell), Smorch (Tornado) and Urgan (Hurricane) multiple rocket launchers are designed to fire a salvo of powerful rockets to destroy concentrations of soldiers or military equipment . Their use against populated areas would inevitably result in heavy casualties and major damage to civilian infrastructure.
The Russian military also has powerful Soviet-designed artillery units, oddly named after flowers, such as the self-propelled 203-mm Peony and 152-mm Hyacinth and Acacia self-propelled howitzers.
Moscow has claimed it was targeting only military bases and infrastructure, but AP has reported widespread damage to civilian infrastructure and residential areas in Kyiv, Kharkiv and several other cities and towns across Ukraine. Russian officials have alleged that the Ukrainian military has widely deployed heavy weapons in residential areas for civilians to use as shields, a claim that cannot be independently verified.
United Nations Head of Human Rights, Michelle BacheletSpeaking Thursday at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, “the majority of civilian casualties were caused by heavy artillery, multi-launch rocket systems and air strikes in populated areas, with reports of the use of cluster weapons attacking civilian targets.” . .” He did not specify which party would have used them.
Cluster munitions and thermobaric weapons
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of using cluster weapons, a charge denied by the Kremlin.
Such weapons are designed to target enemy troops and weapons over a wide area, and their use in populated areas would inevitably result in mass casualties among civilians.
Cluster bombs, rockets and artillery shells open into the air, releasing submunitions or ‘bullets’, which are scattered over a large area and hit multiple targets at once.
Beyond the initial impact, bombings have a high rate of failure, which poses the risk of killing people and crippling them long after they have been fired.
Thermobaric weapons consist of a fuel container and two separate explosive charges, with the first detonating to disperse the fuel particles and the second igniting the fuel and oxygen dispersed in the air, a blast wave of extreme pressure and heat. which creates a partial vacuum. an enclosed space. This makes the weapon particularly lethal to people in enclosed spaces.
The Pentagon has said Russian mobile launchers for thermobaric weapons were spotted inside Ukraine, but could not confirm their use.
arsenal of ukraine
The Ukrainian military relied on a similar assortment of Soviet-made multiple rocket launchers and howitzers to the Russian military.
It does not have sophisticated long-range precision weapons like Russia’s Iskander ballistic missile and Kalibr cruise missile.
The Ukrainian military has Soviet-era Tochka-U short-range ballistic missiles, which have a powerful warhead but poor accuracy compared to the latest Russian weapons.
In addition to its old Soviet-built arsenal, Ukraine has received large shipments of Western weapons, such as the US-made Javelin anti-tank missile and the shoulder-launched Stinger anti-aircraft missile. Ukrainian officials said the country’s military used them to inflict heavy damage on invading Russian forces.
The Ukrainian military has also used Turkish-supplied Bayraktar drones prior to the conflict. It has released a video showing Bayraktar’s attack against a Russian military convoy.