Russia’s unguided weapons cause ‘widespread destruction’ in Donbass: Britain

The Russian military has become increasingly dependent on unguided weapons amid shortages of ammunition, Britain’s Defense Ministry reported on Saturday.

The ministry provided several updates on the military situation in Ukraine by sharing an infographic on Twitter. Among the points shared, it noted that the Russian forces working to claim the Donbass region are increasingly reliant on unguided munitions due to the lack of guided varieties.

While a shortage of any kind might sound like trouble for Russia at first, the ministry noted that its increasing reliance on unguided strikes, aka “dumb” bombs, has led to widespread destruction in the Donbass, as the Russian military is incapable of doing it is able to use precision strikes.

“The combined use of air and artillery strikes has been a key factor in Russia’s recent tactical successes in the region,” the ministry wrote in its update. “The increased use of unguided munitions has resulted in the widespread destruction of built-up areas in Donbass and has almost certainly caused significant collateral damage and civilian casualties.”

news week previously reported on the depletion of guided munitions during the conflict in Ukraine. Late last month, an unnamed Pentagon official told reporters that the economic sanctions imposed on Russia by the rest of the world are “biting a bite on the Russians’ ability to replenish those supplies” and that the country is “pretty blown away” with their precision-guided systems Ammunition.”

Dara Massicot, Senior Policy Researcher at Rand Corporation, narrates The Moscow time that the unguided weapons would likely “do a lot of collateral damage”. Similar “dumb” munitions were reportedly used by Russian forces on March 9 when a maternity hospital in Mariupol was hit, killing three people and injuring 17, including some children.

The British Ministry of Defense added that Russian air forces remain focused on the Donbas, the embattled breakaway region of eastern Ukraine at the heart of the Russian invasion. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously claimed the conflict was partly waged to liberate allegedly persecuted Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the region.

“Russia’s inability to suppress or destroy Ukrainian strategic air defense systems in the early days of the conflict limited its ability to provide tactical air support to ground maneuvering elements, which contributed to its failure to advance on Kyiv,” the ministry said in its update .

Despite Putin’s previous claims, state media in Russia have recently reported that Russian-speaking Ukrainians have started fighting back against Russian forces. Journalist Andrei Sidorchik said during an appearance on Russia-1 that “the main backbone of [Ukrainian] “Fighters” in Donbass “consists of Russian speakers and residents of Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine.”