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Russia hits Ukrainian city with internationally banned vacuum bomb

vacuum bomb
Photo: Maksym Edel
Edited by: Christine Chraibi

On February 28, Russian invaders dropped a vacuum bomb, a deadly killer weapon, on the town of Okhtyrka in Sumy Oblast.

The mayor of Okhtyrka Pavlo Kuzmenko reported that the bomb hit an oil depot warehouse situated within the city limits.

“The enemy is waging an ignoble war. Russian forces have just dropped another vacuum bomb on the oil depot warehouse in Okhtyrka. The oil tanks exploded. The enemy’s actions are despicable!” the mayor said.

Kuzmenko added that Russian soldiers had begun breaking into garages and confiscating civilian vehicles.

Human rights groups and Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova declared that Russia was using both cluster bombs and vacuum bombs, weapons both condemned and banned by many international organizations.

 “They used a vacuum bomb today. Russia is inflicting total devastation on Ukraine… They should pay, they should pay a very heavy price.” said Markarova after meeting with members of the US Congress.

CNN reported that their team had spotted thermobaric multiple rocket launchers south of Belgorod, Russia, near the Ukrainian border on February 26.

Photo: Maksym Edel
Photo: Maksym Edel
Photo: Maksym Edel
Photo: Maksym Edel
Photo: Maksym Edel
Vacuum bombs are prohibited by the Geneva Conventions. A vacuum bomb, or thermobaric weapon, takes in oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion, typically producing a blast wave of a significantly longer duration than that of a conventional explosive. Anything or anyone near the ignition point is literally obliterated.

In Kharkiv Oblast, Ukrainian forces recently found several cluster bombs containing Lepestok (Petal) mines, which are widely banned under international humanitarian law.

Russian aircraft drop cluster bombs with ‘Petal’ mines in Kharkiv Oblast

Amnesty International said international humanitarian law prohibits the use of inherently indiscriminate weapons such as cluster munitions.

Launching indiscriminate attacks that kill or injure civilians constitutes a war crime.

Edited by: Christine Chraibi
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