Russia used ‘vacuum bomb’ in Ukraine? Here is how lethal it is

By Team Newsable | First Published Mar 11, 2022, 11:43 AM IST

A thermobaric weapon, sometimes known as a vacuum bomb, is used to draw oxygen from the surrounding environment, resulting in a high-temperature explosion.

Ukraine's envoy to the United States and human rights organisations claimed that Russia has been using vacuum bombs and cluster bombs to assault the nation. According to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, Russian soldiers are employing widely prohibited cluster bombs. Amnesty International also accused them of assaulting a nursery where people had sought refuge.

A thermobaric weapon, sometimes known as a vacuum bomb, is used to draw oxygen from the surrounding environment, resulting in a high-temperature explosion. As a result, the explosion wave produced is substantially longer in duration than that of a typical explosive. It also has the ability to vaporise human beings.

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It is a two-stage munition, sometimes known as an aerosol bomb. The first charge disperses aerosols consisting of very small material ranging from a carbon-based fuel to microscopic metal particles. The second charge ignites the cloud, causing a shock wave that absorbs oxygen and creates a vacuum around its target. According to experts, the explosion wave of a vacuum bomb lasts substantially longer than that of regular explosives.

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According to a Human Rights Watch study from 2000, the US developed and utilised fuel-air explosives (FAE) for the first time in Vietnam. It went on to say that Soviet scientists quickly built their FAE weapons, which they launched against China in 1969. Since then, Russian researchers and developers have produced a wide range of third-generation FAE warheads.

According to another report, individuals close to the ignition point are annihilated, while those on the outside are "certain to suffer multiple internal, and hence undetectable damage."

According to Amnesty International, the use of inherently indiscriminate weapons, such as cluster bombs, is prohibited under international humanitarian law. Launching indiscriminate assaults that kill or hurt people is a war crime.

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