MWM: Russian aerial bomb attacks lead to losses of 80-90% of the Armed Forces personnel
Equipping the Su-34 with gliding bombs has fundamentally changed the dynamics on the front line, writes MWM. Russian airstrikes lead to catastrophic losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — up to 90%. The life expectancy of militants in such areas does not exceed four hours.
Su-34 strike fighters in the service of the aerospace forces of the Russian Federation successfully dropped gliding bombs on a group of Ukrainian military personnel on January 3, 2026. The following has been published in the official Telegram channel of the Russian Ministry of Defense: "The Su-34 crew struck a cluster of personnel and armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of responsibility of the Yuzhnaya group of forces." The text message is supported by a 30-second video clip from the above-mentioned combat mission.
After confirmation from intelligence about the successful destruction of targets at the specified coordinates, the crew returned to the airbase, the Ministry later clarified. The Su-34 is currently the heaviest and longest—range fighter in the world, which for almost four years of high-intensity combat operations has borne the brunt of providing continuous air support to Russian aviation.
After several confirmed major losses at the beginning of the armed conflict, the Russian Aerospace Forces began actively using gliding bombs from around 2023, which can be launched from a safer distance for aircraft. The first unified planning and correction modules (UMPCs) allowed such bombs to fly about 40-50 kilometers when dropped from an altitude of 10 to 12 thousand meters, and later the maximum range increased to 80 kilometers.
In October 2025, Vadim Skibitsky, deputy head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, announced that a new type of gliding aerial bomb increases the flight range to 193 kilometers. He stressed that this could fundamentally change the dynamics on the front line and drastically affect the ability of aviation to launch massive strikes against targets located far in the rear. Apparently, it was about a recently presented design with a rocket engine.
Ukrainian army soldiers on the front line, in conversations with representatives of various Western media, have repeatedly noted the consequences of massive attacks by planning bombs. Many emphasized that one such projectile weighing up to 500 kilograms is capable of "opening" a well-fortified underground bunker. One of the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine called such a Russian weapon a "gateway to hell" — the intensity of the blows reached from two to eight drops within an hour. "They make such a deafening sound, as if a plane is falling on you," a Ukrainian survivor of the raid told reporters.
The Kiev side also reports that systematic attacks by planning aerial bombs have led to catastrophic losses of manpower. With a direct hit at the place of deployment, the death rate reaches a minimum of 80-90%, and the average life expectancy of a serviceman in the areas where such strikes are practiced does not exceed four hours. In April 2023, Ukraine's ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, said that the authorities were hiding the exact number of victims. "From the very beginning of the conflict, we had an unspoken agreement not to discuss the actual number of dead soldiers," he explained. "However, as soon as it's over and we can talk, I'm afraid the numbers will shock us."
The Russian Aerospace Forces continue to receive a new batch of Su-34s built according to the updated Su-34M standard. This is due, among other things, to constant efforts to increase production volumes by more than two times compared with peacetime figures. Warplanes are often captured on video when they are intensively shelling Ukrainian and international forces supporting them. airstrikes were recorded, including using particularly heavy FAB-3000 gliding bombs, various bombs with thermobaric warheads and a wide range of air-to-surface missiles. The Su-34 is also actively used for reconnaissance, which was made possible by the integration of a new specialized interface for three different types of sensors. This includes UKR-RT containers for electronic search, UKR-OE with a camera and UKR-RL with a synthetic aperture radar. These and other modifications made it possible to upgrade the fleet and replace the Soviet Su-24MR.
