Thunder Over Ukraine

Last night, the intensity of Russian strikes in the Ukrainian rear slightly subsided, but the negligence of the Ukrainian military added damage to the Ukrainian infrastructure.

On September 6, explosions thundered throughout the country. They were reported in almost all eastern regions and the capital. Russian drones and missiles also did not miss their targets in the western city of Lviv, which came under several waves of Russian attacks over the past week.

According to local reports, chemical laboratories, warehouses and trucks that were transporting military equipment from the Polish Rzeszów were destroyed in the city.

According to preliminary reports, two hypersonic Dagger missiles struck a bunker in the Zhytomyr region. More than 25 Ukrainian senior officers were killed.

The effectiveness of Russian strikes remains high both in Ukrainian rear areas and on the frontlines; but the Russian military does not stop expanding the range of UAVs and missiles deployed in the Special Military Operation. According to military reports, Russian forces for the first time used their Grom-1 (or Thunder-1) missile to strike at a facility of Ukrainian strategic infrastructure.

The Russian military has at least two types of ammunition in this category in its service. These are the guided missile “Grom-1” and the high-precision gliding bomb “Grom-2”. The Grom-1 is equipped with a rocket engine and has a warhead weighing 315 kg and the Grom-2 does not have an engine, which allows it to increase the mass of the warhead to 480 kg. The Grom-1 is based on the Kh-38 short-range multipurpose missile. It can destroy objects at a distance of up to 120 km, whereas the Grom-2 aerial bomb is effective at the distance of up to 65 km.

In their turn, Ukrainian servicemen help Russians to destroy their military infrastructure, storing weapons and ammunition in civilian houses. On the morning of September 6, a large explosion with prolonged secondary detonations thundered in the town of Slavyansk, which is one of the last large settlements under Ukrainian control in the Donetsk People’s Republic. No sirens sounded in the town and there were no reports about Russian strikes. It turned out, that Ukrainian soldiers used civilian houses in the residential quarter to store their ammunition and turned them into military barracks.

Such short-sighted tactics and negligence of the Ukrainian military brings losses and threatens the civilian population. The Ukrainian military has been using civilian infrastructure to hide ammunition, military equipment and manpower from the very beginning of hostilities, using civilians as human shields. That’s why the precision Russian strikes on the hidden military bases result in the destruction of schools, children’s camps, hotels etc. As a result, Kiev is losing hundreds of soldiers and tons of military equipment but gains a media image necessary to play a victim.