A video published this Wednesday on social media supposedly shows, the explosion of an ODAB-9000 bomb in the Ukrainian city of Volchanskin the Kharkiv region. If confirmed, this would mean the first combat use of the bomb thermobaric developed by Russia. Also known as the ‘Father of All Bombs’for being the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in Russia’s arsenalthe ODAB-9000 has a destructive power equivalent to detonating 44,000 kilograms of TNT.
A thermobaric pump or vacuum pump creates a high temperature explosion consuming oxygen from the surrounding air and generating a shock wave that destroys everything in a large area. These types of weapons have already been used in the Ukraine war by Russia with thermobaric launchers TOS-1 and TOS-2capable of being loaded with ODAB-1500 rockets.
The video was originally published on the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian news agency InsiderUA, citing Russian military bloggers as sourcesas reported by Newsweek. It went viral and from there it spread to Russian and Ukrainian media. However, the Ukrainian Armed Forces They have denied that the explosion corresponds to an ODAB-9000.
Newsweek reports Dr. Sidharth Kaushal, a Sea Power researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, who says the images do not make it clear whether the bomb was, in fact, an ODAB-9000 thermobaric weapon or a FAB-9000 aerial bombas other media have also pointed out. Russia has not commented, but its propagandists defend that it is the ODAB-9000.
The colonel Vitalii Sarantsevspokesman for the Kharkiv Operational and Tactical Group, has come forward and denied the use of the ODAB-9000 during the attack on Volchansk. ‘Information about the alleged use of the ODAB-9000 aerial bomb by the Russian occupation forces in Volchansk it’s not true. To use this ammunition a suitable carrier is required, which could theoretically be, for example, a Tu-160 strategic bomber, but the movement of said plane was not recorded’he told Ukrainian media.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ denial suggests that a smaller weapon may have been used in this attack instead of the ODAB-9000. According to Sarantsev, the explosion could have been caused by another type of ammunition, possibly a less powerful thermobaric bomb such as the ODAB-1500 or high explosive aviation bomb FAB-3000. Although these alternatives are also very destructive, they do not reach the power of the ODAB-9000.
Sarantsev also stated that this news forms part of an information war aimed at intimidating Ukrainians and destabilize the situation in the region.