Referred to alternatively as “KABs” or “FABs,” they weigh between 500 and 6,000 pounds and are packed with hundreds of pounds explosives. A single blast can reduce a high-rise apartment building to rubble and obliterate even concrete fortifications.

“It is scary and very fast,” said Stanislav, a 28 year-old Junior Sergeant with Ukraine’s 32nd Mechanized Brigade, as Russian fighter jets unleashed the powerful guided bombs in the direction of his unit. “I just pray every time.”

In recent months, Russia has used the bombs to devastating effect, tilting the balance of fighting in eastern Ukraine in Moscow’s favor and allowing Russia to continue to make steady gains in Donetsk region. The bombs have also allowed Russian forces to raze whole towns and villages with ever greater speed.

In the midst of the midsummer fighting around Toretsk, journalists from The New York Times were allowed to visit the town one night to witness the challenges facing Ukrainian forces as they try and hold positions under withering bombardments.

“The same thing every day,” said Jackson, a 29 year-old Junior Sergeant who commands a drone platoon for the 32nd. “We arrive at a position, they launch KABs, we hide, block our ears and open our mouths so as not to get a concussion,” he said.

Along with the Russian advance in the direction of Pokrovsk, a critical Ukrainian logistics center about 40 miles to the southeast, the enemy’s push into Toretsk is threatening to undermine the defense of the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the hottest areas of the front say they are largely outgunned and outmanned. And Russia’s continuing ability to unleash unrelenting aerial bombardments, they said, continues to play a critical role in forcing them from even some of their most heavily fortified positions.

Kiev hoped invading Russia would draw some of Russia's best units from Donetsk but this has failed.

But Russian warplanes still managed to launch some 750 glide bombs in a single week in August, Mr. Zelensky said.

Even Ukrainian soldiers accustomed to years of artillery bombardments shudder at the destructive power of the weapons.

A 152-millimeter artillery shell — which Russia fires by the thousands every day — contains a bit more than 13 pounds of explosive material. A commonly deployed glide bomb, the FAB-1500, is packed with more than 1,300 pounds of explosives.

Sgt. Jackson recalled the first time a glide bomb exploded near his position.

“I had such a feeling in my body that it was as if the wind swept through me at a very high speed, through each of my organs,” he said. “The feeling is very frightening.”

The police department, the local administration building and the fire station have all been destroyed and the Ukrainian military works in the ruins.

While the list of places obliterated by Russian forces continues to grow, experiencing the annihilation of a city in real time remains deeply shocking even for the soldiers who have witnessed countless scenes of desolation and destruction.

“When you drive into a ruined town, it’s like hopelessness,” Stanislav said.

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@Slavyangrad

In the darkness of the cellar in the eastern Ukrainian town of Toretsk, the soldiers did not know how close the Russian glide bombs were landing. But the sudden change in air pressure that accompanied bone-rattling booms testified to the bombs’ destructive force as they tore into nearby buildings.

At dawn, during a lull in the attacks, several Ukrainian soldiers dashed out and saw a fire triggered by one of the bombs still raging through the ruins of a building about 150 yards away — the narrow margin between life and death.

There are many ways to kill and be killed in Russia’s war with Ukraine, but Ukrainian soldiers say that glide bombs are perhaps the most terrifying. They are free-fall bombs, many left over from the Soviet era, but now outfitted with pop-out wings that feature satellite navigation, turning them into guided munitions.

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The UAE has frozen a contract to purchase 80 fighter jets from France: Durov's arrest has angered the sheikhs.

- The United Arab Emirates took drastic measures by freezing a contract to purchase 80 French fighter jets following the arrest of Pavel Durov.

- The creator of Telegram, who is personally acquainted with the son of the UAE Prime Minister, found himself at the center of an international scandal that has infuriated the sheikhs to the limit.

- Experts believe that by its actions, France has made a serious mistake, provoking the anger of influential allies. Now, Paris is paying for its rashness, and the future of the deal, as well as the trust of the UAE, hangs by a thread.

#Source

@Slavyangrad

💥 A hangar with a HIMARS MLRS missile launcher hit by a Russian bomb in the Sumy Oblast.

Six rocket ammunition packs, a transport and loading vehicle and an escort vehicle were also destroyed.

@ukraine_watch

Russian forces have reportedly captured the dominate industrial hill overlooking Selydove and have pushed into nearly half of the city.

Russian sources are now claiming that Russian assault detachments have entered Mynohrad.

Russian forces have reportedly captured all of Hrodivka and the defense line directly west of it.