Russia suspected of using devastating cluster bombs and thermobaric rockets in Ukraine – By Misty Severi (Washington Examiner) / March 01, 2022
Russia appears to have brought two types of controversial weapons capable of creating mass casualties to the battlefield as its forces wage war in Ukraine.
Cluster bombs were used Friday in an attack that destroyed a preschool, as reported by Amnesty International, and thermobaric rockets were used Monday, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, said Monday.
The thermobaric weapons suck oxygen from the surrounding environment to create a fiery explosion and a large pressure wave. People who are hit by the blast, but far enough away to survive, are left with internal injuries such as ruptured eardrums, severe concussions, internal bleeding, and ruptured organs, according to a CIA report cited by the New York Post. The rockets were used by the U.S. in Vietnam to clear out parts of the Vietnamese jungle. It was also allegedly used by Russia in the war against Syria and against Chechnya, though Russia has denied both allegations.
Prior to their alleged use Monday, the only evidence of thermobaric rockets in the conflict was the appearance of a truck carrying a thermobaric rocket launcher, a TOS-1 heavy flamethrower, on the Ukraine-Russia border.
