Russia drops 900 glide bombs in a week on Ukraine

Kyiv has struggled for months to counter the highly-destructive bombs which have been laying waste to the eastern part of the country

Russia has dropped more than 900 glide bombs on Ukraine this week, along with 400 Shahed drones and nearly 30 missiles, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday.
One barrage on Friday injured at least 15 people in Kharkiv, including children, while on Saturday bombs hit apartment buildings in the city, wounding 21, including an eight-year-old child.
Ukrainian officials said that KAB-type aerial glide bombs – highly-destructive free-fall bombs that have been laying waste to eastern Ukraine – were used in both attacks.
For months Kyiv has struggled to counter the bombs, which are a relatively new development, cheap but devastating. The weapons, which weigh up to 3,300 pounds, are built by retrofitting old Soviet bombs with fold-out wings and satellite navigation.
Russia has used them to target Ukraine’s frontline defences and nearby cities, gaining a significant aerial advantage. Mr Zelensky said that 3,000 glide bombs hit targets in March.
“There are no words to describe the aftermath of a glide bomb attack,” Vovchansk police chief Oleksii Kharkivsky said in May. “You arrive to see people who are lying there, torn apart.”
The 900-figure comes amid repeated calls from Ukraine for restrictions to be lifted on firing Western-supplied long-range missiles into Russia. Currently, neither the UK nor the US has given Kyiv permission for ATACMS or Storm Shadow missiles to strike Russian territory.
“We need to strengthen our capabilities to better protect lives and ensure safety. Ukraine needs full long-range capabilities, and we are working to convince our partners of this. We will continue these discussions next week,” Mr Zelensky said in a post on social media on Sunday.
The Ukrainian leader is hoping to discuss the topic with US President Joe Biden and both US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump this week, on the sidelines of the UN general assembly.
“There will be a new president in the United States. And we need to talk to each of the candidates about their perception of this,” Mr Zelensky said.
Over the weekend, attacks in Kharkiv, which has been bombed heavily this year, hit nine residential buildings.
Further south, a 12-year-old girl and a woman died after a Russian drone struck a passenger car in the city of Nikopol, local governor Serhii Lysak reported. Two others, including a four-year-old child, suffered wounds.
Russia also launched 80 Shahed drones and two missiles at Ukraine overnight into Sunday, the Ukrainian air force said.
Ukrainian air defences shot down 71 drones, and another six were lost on location due to electronic warfare countermeasures.