Russian forces have for the first time used the incredible ODAB-1500 bomb in Ukraine, targeting the town of Velyka Pysarivka in Sumy Oblast.
The incident, reported by Russian Bild via Telegram on March 30, resulted in a towering smoke cloud.
A New Level of Destruction
The use of the ODAB-1500, a Soviet-era volumetric detonating aviation bomb, represents a troubling advancement in the types of weaponry being deployed.
Designed to release a combustible aerosol just before impact, igniting to create a massive explosion, the ODAB-1500 targets personnel and lightly armored vehicles with brutal efficiency.
Julian Röpcke, a military analyst for Bild, observed the smoke cloud rising to a height of 1 kilometer, underscoring the bomb's potent blast effects.
The Lethal Legacy of Soviet Munitions
The ODAB series varies in size, with the smaller ODAB-500 affecting up to 300 square meters, whereas the ODAB-1500 encompasses an area of 500 square meters.
Despite previous uses of smaller variants, the deployment of a 1.5-ton bomb within a civilian area marks, as Röpcke puts it, "a new low in Russia's war against Ukrainian cities."
Unprecedented Danger
Oleksandr Kovalenko, a Ukrainian military expert, confirmed the deployment of this lethal weapon, noting its first verified use in the region.
"The Russians are fully tapping into their arsenal of aviation bombs from the Soviet era," Kovalenko stated, highlighting the old but effective production methods still in use.
The bomb's design ensures that at the epicenter, pressure surges to an unsurvivable 120 atmospheres.
This makes the ODAB-1500 an unprecedented threat, even when compared to the conventional FABs, Soviet-designed air-dropped bombs previously used.
