Ukraine’s ambassador to the US and human rights groups on Monday accused Russia of attacking Ukrainians with cluster bombs and vacuum bombs, weapons that have been condemned by a variety of international organizations.. He alleged that Russia is been attacking Ukrainian cities with what is being called vacuum bombs and cluster bombs.
"They used the vacuum bomb today," Markarova said on Monday, after a meeting with lawmakers. "...The devastation that Russia is trying to inflict on Ukraine is large," he added.
There have been growing concerns that the vacuum bomb - considered to be the world's most powerful non-nuclear bomb - could come to be a part of the raging war.
According to a CNN report from last Saturday, one of its teams had spotted a Russian thermobaric multiple rocket launcher near the Ukrainian border.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has said that she had seen reports but did not have confirmation that Russia had used such weapons.
What is a vacuum bomb?
A vacuum bomb, or thermobaric weapon, sucks in oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion, typically producing a blast wave of a significantly longer duration than that of a conventional explosive and is capable of vaporizing human bodies.
The fuel-air explosives (FAE) were first developed and used in Vietnam by the US, as per a Human Rights Watch report from 2000. The Soviet scientists also developed FAE weapons soon and used them against China in 1969.
Russians seem to be holding a wide range of third-generation FAE warheads.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both have criticized the use of such weapons by Russia saying that international humanitarian law prohibits the use of inherently indiscriminate weapons such as cluster munitions.
(with sources inputs)
