Russian military utilises Shahed-136 drones armed with thermobaric warheads Kyiv Scientific Research Institute confirms

Russian forces are reportedly commencing the use of Shahed-136 drones equipped with thermobaric warheads.

The Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise announced on October 29 that debris from these drones, employed by Russian forces in a series of strikes between October 26 and 29, indicates modifications that include the new warhead type, Caliber.Az reports per US-based think tank Insitute for the Study of War (ISW).

On October 30, Roselectronics, a subsidiary of the Russian state defence conglomerate Rostec, claimed to have developed a radar-absorbing coating for the TOS-1A thermobaric artillery systems, suggesting that this enhancement would make the systems "invisible" to contemporary guidance systems and thermal imagers.

Meanwhile, during the night of October 30 to 31, Russian forces executed a series of drone and missile strikes across Ukraine. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russian forces launched four Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles from Rostov Oblast and occupied Crimea, in addition to eight Kh-59/69 cruise missiles from aircraft operating over the Black Sea, and deployed 43 drones, including Shahed models, from Kursk and Oryol oblasts. 

The strikes targeted a rail bridge across the Dniester Estuary in Zatoka, Odesa Oblast, and various unspecified locations in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast.

By 08:00 local time on October 31, the Ukrainian Air Force reported intercepting 17 drones and two Kh-59/69 missiles over several regions, including Odesa, Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Poltava. 

Additionally, it was noted that 23 drones were "locally lost," likely due to electronic warfare interference, while three drones returned to Russian-controlled airspace. Ihor Taburets, Head of the Cherkasy Oblast Military Administration, reported that Russian strikes caused damage to civilian enterprises in Cherkasy Oblast.

On  October 30 and 31, Ukrainian sources noted that debris from Russian drones fell in a field in Podilskyi Raion, Kyiv Oblast, igniting a fire.

Furthermore, Ukrainian officials reported that a nine-storey residential building in Saltivskyi Raion, Kharkiv City, was struck by a FAB-500 glide bomb equipped with a unified planning and correction module.

There were also two glide bomb strikes on a field in Odnorobivka, Kharkiv Oblast. The local authorities confirmed that the strike in Saltivskyi Raion resulted in the deaths of at least two individuals and left 34 others injured.

By Aghakazim Guliyev