SPECULUM VERUM
With tension rising between the US and Russia, Moscow now claims a US ‘smart bomb’ has been destroyed in Ukraine.
A US-supplied smart bomb used by Ukrainian troops has been shot down by Russian forces, according to the Kremlin. The high-tech Ground-launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB) is fired from a rocket and guides to its target using GPS at a range of 150km.
The weapon is considered to be a significant tool for Kyiv as it has the capacity to double Ukraine’s battlefield firing range.
Russia said air defence forces shot down the device within the last 24 hours but did not specify where this had taken place.
The GLSDB has around double the range of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) which Washington handed to Kyiv last year.
The range factor is of strategic significance to Kyiv as it hands Ukrainian troops with the opportunity to bring more of Russia’s supply lines into striking distance.
This could force Vladimir Putin’s troops to move supplies and ammunition depots further away from the frontline.
Experts have previously credited the arrival of HIMARS to Ukraine last year as helping switch momentum after Russia first launched its invasion of the ex-Soviet state.
Russia’s announcement comes shortly after Ukraine shot down 12 drones over Kyiv.
Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said Putin’s troops had launched 12 drones towards Kyiv.
However, he also said Ukraine’s air defence forces had identified and destroyed “all enemy targets” in the airspace around the capital.
The operation led to a blaze in the capital’s western district of Sviatoshyno.
Popko said in a Telegram post: “According to preliminary data there are no casualties at this time.”
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in its daily morning update that Russia launched a total of 15 Iranian-made Shahed drones on Ukraine overnight.Kyiv claimed it destroyed 14 out of the 15 drones