Why did Russia drastically reduce airstrikes with the "most terrifying" weapon on Ukraine?

(Dan Tri) - Statistics show that Russia has reduced by 50% the amount of smart glide bombs dropped on Ukrainian targets in recent times.

Su-34 bomber (Photo: Tass).

Russia's independent news site Agentstvo cited reports from the Ukrainian General Staff on December 12 saying that Russian guided bomb attacks on Ukraine have decreased by more than 50 percent since Western partners allowed Kiev to attack Russia with long-range missiles provided by aid.

US President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the green light to attack Russian territory with ATACMS missiles in mid-November. Within days, Kiev also reportedly launched its first British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Russia.

Between November 1 and 20, Russia typically used at least 100 guided bombs per day. They dropped 138 guided bombs on November 20, the last time the Russian Aerospace Forces targeted Ukraine with more than 100 bombs in a single day. However, according to Ukrainian statistics, that number has dropped significantly since then.

Russian aircraft dropped fewer guided bombs on Ukraine in the first 12 days of December. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, there were only five days in which the number of bombs used reached around 50, with the daily average now being 40 or less.

Oliver Alexander, an open source intelligence (OSINT) analyst, said the drop could be due to the threat posed by long-range missile attacks on Russian airfields.

The Russian military may have been forced to move its Su-34 bombers 600km further from the frontline to avoid attacks by long-range Western missiles. This could affect “maintenance, sortie rates and flying hours”, he said.

Late last month, Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Anatolii Barhylevych admitted that Russia holds a huge stockpile of guided bombs, inherited from the Soviet Union.

Guided bombs are precision-guided munitions that have a shorter range than missiles but are much cheaper to produce.

When the war with Ukraine broke out in 2022, Russia often deployed modern aircraft carrying old, unguided bombs to drop on Kiev’s targets. However, this combination was not very effective.

However, everything changed when Russian planes began dropping precision-guided glide bombs on Kiev targets. Russia created smart bombs by attaching guidance equipment to old Soviet-era bombs, turning cheap bombs into very dangerous weapons.

Since last year, the UPAB-1500 and FAB-500 winged bombs (known as KAB in Ukraine) have increasingly worried Kiev soldiers. Many Ukrainian soldiers have admitted that KAB is "one of their biggest fears" because of the destructive power of this weapon.

To counter Russian glide bombs, Ukraine announced it would develop its own smart bombs.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-gioi/vi-sao-nga-giam-manh-khong-kich-bang-vu-khi-dang-so-nhat-xuong-ukraine-20241213112247903.htm