advertisement
As Russia’s horrifying invasion of Ukraine continues to unfold, Oksana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, has alleged that Russia used a vacuum bomb. According to reports, the attack was aimed at a Ukrainian army base in Okhtyrka and 70 soldiers were killed in the blast.
The use of a vacuum bomb has yet to be independently confirmed. But in recent days, CNN reported that members of its team had spotted Russian military vehicles fitted with thermobaric rocket launchers near the Ukrainian border.
Thermobaric weapons are also called vacuum bombs because the explosion sucks up all the oxygen around the device. This process leaves victims close to the explosion unable to breathe, killing them by asphyxiation. Besides suffocation, the pressure from the explosion can essentially crush a person to death and cause major internal damage to the body’s organs, such as rupturing the lungs.
The effects of thermobaric weapons are much more intense and destructive than a more conventional bomb. The explosion lasts longer and happens at a much higher temperature. As a result, these weapons can devastate vast areas of land, destroy buildings, and can even vaporise a human body from the extreme heat. The materials used are also often highly toxic and can be as dangerous as chemical weapons.
Thermobaric arms come in various sizes. Larger versions have been compared to small tactical nuclear devices. When the US used a thermobaric device in the 1991 Gulf war, it was initially reported that they had detonated a nuclear weapon because the explosion was so big.
Russia’s use of thermobaric weapons raises serious legal concerns. Markarova has said that the alleged attack would violate the terms of the Geneva Convention. Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has noted that if the allegations are true – as well as allegations that Russia used cluster bombs, another controversial weapon – this would potentially be considered an international war crime.
Other countries have also used these weapons. For example, the US employed thermobaric devices not only in the Gulf war but also in Vietnam and against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.
Russia may be trying to speed up its invasion of Ukraine by using more destructive weapons rather than more conventional bombs.
(This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article here.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)