Russia has attacked Ukraine with 10,000 guided bombs this year

Russia has dropped nearly 10,000 guided bombs over Ukraine since the beginning of the year, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said on March 25.

Umerov called for stronger air defense and said Kyiv was discussing this with its allies “every day and at every opportunity.”

He expressed his condolences to the families of those killed and injured in the Russian attack with two guided bombs on a hypermarket in Kharkiv on May 25. At least 16 people were killed and more than 40 injured in the attack.

“This is a deliberate killing of the civilian population,” Umerov wrote on Facebook, accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of “another act of genocide.”

Russia typically uses laser- or satellite-guided KAB bombs with a payload of between 250 and 1,500 kilograms against Ukrainian military and civilian targets.

Soviet-era dummy bombs are equipped with cheap glide devices that allow them to fly much farther and more precisely.

Kharkiv and the surrounding oblast have been particularly hard hit by guided bombs in recent months. At least 15 people were injured on Orthodox Easter Sunday when a bomb hit a residential area in downtown Kharkiv.

European Union top diplomat Josep Borrell said the May 25 attack on Kharkiv showed how urgently Ukraine needs additional air defense systems and called on European countries to help.

Borrell’s appeal is similar to that of Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who asked the allies to send Patriot air defense systems after news of the Russian attack.

President Volodymyr Zelensky also reiterated the importance of air defense weapons after the hypermarket bombing.

Glide bombs are helping Russia gain ground in Ukraine. What makes them so effective?

A key factor in Russia’s recent battlefield successes in Ukraine has been its extensive use of glide bombs. Hundreds of these large, deadly weapons rain down on Ukraine every week, leaving craters 20 meters wide and wiping out military positions and entire settlements. Russia relies heavily on its bombs.