Colloquially referred to as vacuum bombs, thermobaric weapons are internationally banned. A video is now supposed to show how Russia uses these double-lethal bombs in the battle for the city of Lyman.
Whether Russia is using thermobaric weapons in its war of aggression against Ukraine has never been fully clarified to date. Now a video on social networks is supposed to show how these so-called vacuum bombs hit the town of Lyman in the Luhansk region.
The thermobaric weapons are not internationally banned for nothing. Roughly speaking, the system, colloquially referred to as a vacuum bomb, resembles a Molotov cocktail with an additional explosive device. The thermal bomb also has a body filled with a flammable liquid and a relatively small explosive charge. When the bomb hits, the explosive charge ensures that the flammable liquid is thrown into the air in a powerful aerosol cloud.
Since the resulting aerosol cloud also pushes the air away in a powerful deflagration, a pressure wave is created that destroys vehicles and buildings. People and other living beings suffocate in this pressure wave. However, when the air displaced by the explosion suddenly returns due to the resulting negative pressure, it not only entrains the burning aerosol droplets. Everything that was moved as part of the blast, such as windows, doors, roof tiles, etc., is thrown back.
The perverse thing is that the air flowing back after the explosion seeks every possible opening and if it is able to penetrate into protective basement rooms as a cloud of fire. Anyone who survived the first pressure wave will be gasping for air, inhaling the extremely hot air or even the burning aerosols. So the vacuum bomb actually kills twice.
The history of Russian vacuum bombs dates back to 1980. This year, the TOS-1 rocket launcher system was developed, which has the ability to launch rockets with thermobaric warheads. The weapons have so far been used in the Soviet-Afghan War, in the Second Chechen War, in the Battle of Mosul against IS positions and in the Syrian civil war.
In 2007, Russia reportedly tested a seven-ton thermobaric bomb, unofficially named "Father of All Bombs" (Папа всех бомб). The explosive power was given as 44 tons at the time, which would actually have made it the most powerful conventional bomb in the world.
If Russia actually used vacuum bombs in Ukraine, that would be a war crime. Although the possession of these weapons is not internationally prohibited, their use in populated areas is considered a war crime because these bombs have the area effect described above. Ukraine would have the right to sue Russia for the deployment at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
