Latest news with #UkrainianCenterforDefenseStrategies
Forbes
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Look At What 720,000 HIMARS Fragments Did To A Russian Helicopter Base
A Russian soldier inspects HIMARS damage. On or just before March 24, a quartet of Russian helicopters—two Mil Mi-8 transports and two Kamov Ka-52 gunships—landed at an austere base somewhere in Belgorod Oblast in western Russia. Ukrainian special forces and the intelligence directorate in Kyiv were watching with at least one surveillance drone. One of the Ukrainian army's U.S.-made High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System wheeled launchers took aim. 'The target was engaged,' the special operations command reported. Four 660-pound M30 rockets, each packing 180,000 tungsten fragments, rained down from as far away as 57 miles. All four helicopters appear to have been hit. A Russian soldier and at least one dog trotted out to inspect the damage. Eight days later on Wednesday, that soldier's video circulated online—and the Estonian analyst WarTranslated translated it. 'Oh well, direct hit,' the soldier moaned as he inspected the shredded helicopters. Speaking by phone to a comrade as he recorded his battle-damage assessment, the soldier narrated in an increasingly dire tone. 'Kerosene is pouring out' of Ka-52 number 96, he reported. 'Spillage in the front.' 'Kerosene is fucking pouring' from an Mi-8, too, the soldier noted. Worse, the same helicopter took blast damage 'to the ass' that severed a rotor blade. The scale and severity of the damage was by design. With their thousands of submunitions or fragments, the M30 and the larger Army Tactical Missile System rocket—fired by the same launchers—are optimized for strikes on thin-skinned targets. People and helicopters, in particular. A Russian soldier inspects HIMARS damage. It's not for no reason that, when it tested the two-ton M39 ATACMS, the U.S. Army aimed the missile at a mock airfield where the service parked old helicopters and trucks. Footage of the test depicts submunitions tearing into the rotorcraft and vehicles. The precision strike in Belgorod came as Ukrainian brigades, having retreated from neighboring Kursk, extended a shallow incursion into the oblast. Ukrainian forces initially made modest gains by 'taking advantage of the enemy's communication and coordination problems,' according to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies. In recent days, they've fallen back in the face of Russian counterattacks. The attack on those four helicopters was part of the wider Belgorod campaign. But it was also revenge. On March 13, 2024, Russian artillery caught a trio of Ukrainian army Mil Mi-8 or Mil Mi-17 assault helicopters on the ground in Novopavlivka, 35 miles west of what was then the front line outside the ruins of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine. A cluster munition exploded over the helicopters, ultimately destroying as many as three helicopters and killing two aviators.
Forbes
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
A Russian Jet Just Bombed A Russian Dam With A Thermobaric Munition
A Russian thermobaric bomb strikes a dam in Belgorod. Effective Ukrainian radio jamming has blunted Russia's advantage in precision glide bombs by blocking the signals between the bombs and their navigation satellites—often causing the bombs to veer off target. That jamming may not extend very deep into Russia, however. Which may explain why, on or just before Tuesday, a Russian air force fighter was able to accurately strike a dam near Ukrainian positions in Belgorod Oblast in western Russia. The dam holds back a river near Popovka, a border settlement in Belgorod. Shortly after retreating from neighboring Kursk Oblast after their supply lines were severed in February, Ukrainian brigades launched a shallow incursion into Belgorod that continues weeks later. The fighting in the oblast is currently concentrated in Popovka and nearby Demidovka, both largely under Ukrainian control as of late March. According to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies, Russian troops counterattacked and marched back into Demidovka on or before Wednesday. Ukrainian air force Sukhoi Su-27 fighters have been supporting the Ukrainian forces in Belgorod, primarily by bombing bridges carrying Russian reinforcements into the oblast. A Ukrainian warplane bombs a Russian bridge. But the Russians are bombing right back. The Tuesday raid reportedly involved a new ODAB-500, a precision-guided thermobaric munition that spreads a flammable aerosol and then ignites it. 'The Russian air force helps repel the enemy's offensive with ODAB air bomb strikes, destroying the approach paths of the occupiers to Popovka,' one Russian blogger crowed. The 1,100-pound ODAB-500 is an odd choice for a dam-busting raid, as its thermobaric effect is most damaging to human bodies—especially human bodies in confined spaces. To bust open a dam and flood the surrounding area, you'd want to hit the dirt and concrete with an earth-penetrating high-explosive munition. A very big one. This kind of bomb is, in a sense, the very opposite of a flimsy thermobaric bomb. That may imply that the target of the Tuesday attack wasn't the dam itself—it was any Ukrainian troops in the open near the dam, or hiding in nearby trenches or bunkers. It's unfortunate for them that the radio jamming that protects so many other Ukrainians apparently doesn't extend into Belgorod. If the jamming does extend into Belgorod, it at least failed to throw off that one ODAB-500.
Forbes
30-03-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
An Assault Group Attacked Pokrovsk While Flying A Giant Russian Flag
A Russian assault group attacks under a large flag. Via Officer_alex It's tempting fate to roll into a battle in Ukraine while flying a giant flag from your armored vehicle. But that's exactly what a Russian regiment did on Thursday as they attacked under the white, blue and red banner of the Russian Federation. Marshalling a dozen increasingly precious armored vehicles, the Russians attacked toward the fortress city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian 35th Marine Brigade and the Birds of Magyar drone group were waiting for them with drones and artillery. 'The entire column was completely destroyed,' one Ukrainian blogger reported. The same thing happened the last time the Russians attacked under a giant flag—in that case, the blood-red flag of the defunct Soviet Union. The wholesale destruction of the flag-waving Russian assault group came as the Kremlin is once again increasing pressure on Pokrovsk, the anchor of a chain of fortified settlements stretching toward the north. A Russian tank burns outside Pokrovsk. Via Officer_alex Russian forces spent a year marching the roughly 25 miles from the ruins of Avdiivka to Pokrovsk. But the offensive ground to a halt a few miles outside of Pokrovsk as it ran into the thickest concentration of Ukrainian drones and artillery last month. There was a weeks-long lull in assaults as Russian forces first focused on ejecting Ukrainian troops from western Russia's Kursk Oblast, which they finally did late last month. Now 'Russian forces increase the intensity of their attacks on the Pokrovsk direction and attempt to reach the same level of intensity as in January 2025,' the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies observed. For the Thursday assault, a Russian regiment assembled a dozen armored vehicles in one column—an increasingly rare sight as Russian losses of armored vehicles and other heavy equipment exceeds 20,000 and regiments turn to civilian vehicles to keep their troops moving. The Russians were victorious in Kursk because the Ukrainians occupied a narrow salient with vulnerable supply lines—and the Russians deployed their best drones to sever the main road into the salient. The only salients around Pokrovsk are held by the Russians. And the only vulnerable supply lines are also Russian. The doomed flag assault was 'unnecessary confirmation of the offensive weakness of the Russians, who, even having accumulated equipment, cannot do anything' around Pokrovsk, the Ukrainian blogger concluded. Given the conditions, it was imprudent for Russian troops to call their shot—and attack under a giant Russian flag as though they'd already won the battle.
Forbes
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Four Russian Helicopters Landed Near The Front Line. HIMARS Was Ready.
HIMARS strikes Russian helicopters. Sometime on or just before Monday, a quartet of Russian helicopters—two Mil Mi-8 transport and two Kamov Ka-52 gunships—landed somewhere in Belgorod Oblast in western Ukraine. Ukrainian special forces and the main intelligence directorate in Kyiv were watching with at least one drone. A Ukrainian army High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System wheeled launcher was waiting. 'The target was engaged,' the special operations command reported. Four 660-pound M30 rockets, each packing 180,000 tungsten fragments, rained down from as far away as 57 miles. All four helicopters exploded. The precision strike came as Ukrainian brigades, having retreated from neighboring Kursk Oblast, conduct small-scale raids into Belgorod. Ukrainian forces have made modest gains by 'taking advantage of the enemy's communication and coordination problems,' according to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies. Hoping to intensify and prolong the Russians' confusion, Ukrainian air force jets bombed a Russian command post in Glotovo, in Belgorod, reportedly 'destroying its communication hub,' CDS claimed. The attack on those four helicopters is part of the wider Belgorod campaign. But it's also revenge. A year ago on March 13, 2024, Russian artillery caught a trio of Ukrainian army Mil Mi-8 or Mil Mi-17 assault helicopters on the ground in Novopavlivka, 35 miles west of what was then the front line outside the ruins of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine. A cluster munition exploded overhead of the 12th Brigade helicopters, damaging at least two of them and apparently killing two aviators: Yaroslav Kava and Andriy Bakun. One Mil managed to fly away before explosives-laden drones streaked in to finish off the two that didn't escape. That strike extended a startling streak for Russian forces in Ukraine. In a period of a week or so, the Russians knocked out their first Ukrainian HIMARS, their first launchers for a Ukrainian Patriot air-defense battery and then that pair of helicopters. It was a shocking signal that the Russians' kill-chain—the networked drones and artillery that allow them to spot targets deep behind the front line and hit them before they move—was getting better, fast. But the Ukrainians have a fast kill-chain, too—and it was dramatically on display in Belgorod on Monday. In 37 months of hard fighting, the Russians have lost around 120 helicopters: fewer than four per month. Monday's raid amounted to a month's worth of rotorcraft destruction.
