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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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A 1,500-kilogram bomb landed on a Russian-controlled village in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region but did not detonate, new footage appears to show, following weeks of onslaughts by Russian aircraft using the modified weapons.
A brief clip circulating on social media appears to show the aftermath of a FAB-1500 aerial bomb falling—but not exploding—on a store in the Donetsk town of Yenakiieve, or Yenakievo. The town is in Moscow-held territory, east of the current frontlines. While Russia has annexed the region, it does not control it entirely.
In March, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's foreign minister, said Russia had dropped 700 guided bombs on Ukrainian territory in a single week.
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Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
Throughout its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, Russia has inadvertently attacked parts of Ukraine under Moscow's control and territory within Russia's internationally recognized borders.
In April 2023, a Russian warplane accidentally bombed the Russian city of Belgorod, near the country's border with Ukraine. In January, Russia bombed the village of Petropavlovka, in the country's Voronezh region, by mistake. Russia's Defense Ministry said at the time that there had been an "abnormal discharge of aircraft ammunition" over the village, state media reported.
On January 8, a Moscow-installed official said a Russian jet had accidentally dropped a FAB-250 bomb on the city of Rubizhne, in Ukraine's annexed Luhansk region.
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The FAB series of bombs, which includes the smaller FAB-250 and FAB-500, are Soviet-era weapons that have been upgraded with guidance kits to become precision bombs. The new modifications have also added pop-out wings, meaning they glide toward their intended target. Ukrainian officials have described the FAB-1500 as a devastating weapon that Russian jets have deployed far more widely in recent weeks.
In early March, footage attributed to fighting around the Donetsk town of Krasnohorivka appeared to show a FAB-1500 bomb landing on a multistory building, resulting in a fireball.
The FAB-1500 is "an extremely powerful weapon," said Ilya Yevlash, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian air force, on April 1. The key to countering the heavy bombs is to destroy the aircraft launching them, such as the Su-34 and Su-35, Yevlash added.
"Russia's main advantage on the battlefield now is the widespread use of guided aerial bombs," the Ukrainian foreign minister said in March. "These bombs, which weigh an average of 500 to 1,500 kilograms, allow the Russian occupiers to destroy the targets of their strikes and advance through the ruins."
He told the Financial Times in April that Ukrainian fighters were "routinely attacked by guided aerial bombs that wipe out our positions."
Ukrainian air force officials warned in April 2023 that Russia had started converting the 500-kilogram FAB-500 aerial bombs into cruise missile–like weapons, which were fired outside the range of Ukrainian air-defense systems. Mykola Oleshchuk, the head of Ukraine's air force, said at the time that there were "signs of preparation for the mass use" of 1,500-kilogram bombs.
Previously, Russia used the FAB-500 extensively, including on the strategic town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine before Ukrainian forces withdrew from the settlement in mid-February.
In March, Russian state media reported that Moscow had started mass production on the FAB-3000, a 3,000-kilogram bomb.
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