A video shared on social media shows Ukraine officials defusing an unexploded bomb. Picture: Twitter
WITH United States intelligence officials having discovered that Russia’s been using secret “decoy dart” missiles in their attacks, Ukrainians on the ground have been defusing unexploded Russian bombs.
According to video shared on social media by the Collective Awareness to Unexploded Ordnance and the Centre for Information Resilience which is a non-profit dedicated to counter disinformation, the footage shows Ukraine officials defusing an unexploded bomb.
It amazes me how many experts pop up who have never even been on a bombs course and without a single day's training have an opinion on these things. My full respect to these individuals, stay safe gents: pic.twitter.com/fCmdmi2lqR
— CAT-UXO (@CAT_UXO) March 10, 2022
Another video shared by the ambassador of Ukraine to Estonia, Mariana Betsa, shows a bomb being “taken out of the window of a house in Chernihiv”.
Aftermath of Russian attacks. A huge bomb taken out of the window of a house in Chernihiv #StopRussia #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/MxtOFm8TQN
— Mariana Betsa (@Mariana_Betsa) March 13, 2022
Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that US intelligence has discovered the surprise ballistic missiles fired by Russia known as the “decoy dart” missiles which they claim Russia have refused to export to stop the West from reverse-engineering them.
These dart-shaped armaments, originally thought to be cluster bombs, have been seen on social media from almost the beginning of Russia's invasion, the report said.
This is an unidentified munition currently being found in Ukraine. At the moment an official identification has not been made. Any additional images, technical information or identification is very much appreciated: https://t.co/dtWwdIJaV3 pic.twitter.com/p2lWFeljYd
— CAT-UXO (@CAT_UXO) March 5, 2022
Images shared on social media show the dart-shaped devices with an orange tail which are released by the Iskander-M short-range ballistic missiles which are fired from mobile launchers.
The missiles are said to have a range of up to 500km and carry a much more powerful warhead that can destroy big buildings.
The short-range ballistic missiles were first used in 2008 in Georgia, with the Iskander designed to confound missile defences by flying on a low trajectory and manoeuvring in flight to strike targets.
IOL