Ukraine. Reports about the dropping of the ODAB-9000 bomb over Wowczańskie

Several Russian pro-war Telegram channels reported Wednesday that Russian forces used the ODAB-9000 vacuum bomb, known as the “father of all bombs,” for the first time. It was supposed to be dropped on the town of Vovchansk in the Kharkiv Oblast Ukraine.

“After the unsuccessful assault on Vovchansk, a decision was made to use something amazing. The ODAB-9000 vacuum bomb. This is its first use during this war,” wrote Maksim Kononenko, a pro-Kremlin journalist from the Murmansk region, on Telegram.

The video was shared, among others, on the channel of Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the Ukrainian volunteer army. “In Vovchansk, according to hostile information sources, the ODAB-9000 vacuum bomb was used for the first time. It is the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the world,” wrote Bratczuk.

“The Russians claim that this is the first use of the ODAB-9000 vacuum bomb, called the 'father of all bombs' and considered the most powerful non-nuclear ammunition in the world,” Ukrainian war reporter Andriy Capliyenko commented on the Russian reports.

Both Bratchuk and Caplijenko also drew attention to other entries appearing on Russian Telegram channels, which say that another thermobaric bomb – ODAB-1500 – could have been used in the attack on Vovchansk.

The website of the English-language newspaper “Kyiv Post” noted that “ODAB-9000 is considered the most powerful Russian thermobaric bomb, designed to create a powerful shock wave capable of causing widespread destruction over a large area.”

“The use of ODAB-9000 is very doubtful. This ammunition is dropped directly over the target and is carried by bombers: Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22M3. The scenario of its use in current conditions would be simply impossible, as it would mean a hundred percent guarantee shooting down an enemy plane by Ukrainian defense,” wrote the Ukrainian military portal Defense Express.

The spokesman of the Ukrainian Kharkov group, Vitaly Saratsev, said that “no movement of Russian bombers that could drop ODAB-9000 was recorded over Vovchansk”.

“Munitions with a lower mass and power were used, the explosion of which was used by propagandists to create a spectacular image,” the military added in a post on Telegram. Saratsev stated that “similar messages may be part of an information war aimed at demoralizing the Ukrainian armed forces and intimidating the local population.”

The independent Russian website Wiorstka recalled that the first tests of ODAB-9000 took place on September 11, 2007. “The bomb was then dropped by parachute from a Tu-160 bomber and exploded in the air. Aleksandr Rukshin, who was then acting as Chief of the General Staff, stated that “it is comparable to nuclear ammunition in terms of effectiveness,” wrote Wiorstka.