Skabeeva denied the report about the Russian Federation's ODAB-9000 bomb attack on the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Volchansk
Russian military commanders and authors of pro-war Telegram channels reported that the Russian Armed Forces for the first time used the ODAB-9000 vacuum bomb in Volchansk in the Kharkiv region, which is unofficially called the "pope of all bombs". This top-secret munition is considered the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the world.
A number of sources reported that the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) were hit by a FAB-9000 bomb. TV presenter Olga Skabeeva denied all these reports and, referring to the Russian Defense Ministry, said that a video from Volchansk showed the use of thermobaric ammunition FAB-1500.
The military commanders posted the same video, but wrote about different bombs. One of them has not been used since Soviet times
Alexey Smirnov, a video blogger, was one of the first to report on the use of the "daddy of all bombs". He posted a video of the attack on Volchansk and stated that the footage recorded the first combat use of the ODAB-9000. War correspondent Andrei Rudenko showed the same footage, but wrote that it was "apparently OFAB-9000." "A very revealing blow. I think there are no survivors left in the affected area," he said. There is no ammunition with the abbreviation OFAB-9000 in the nomenclature of Russian bombs, but there is a FAB-9000 or FAB-9000-M54.
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| A Russian bomb attack on the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Volchansk. |
| Source: Frame: Telegram channel "Reporter Rudenko V" |
The use of the FAB-9000 was also announced by military commander Alexander Sladkov. According to the Military Review, after 1988, FAB-9000 bombs were not used in real combat missions. This is due to the fact that there are no suitable targets for weapons of such power: a nine-ton munition is excessive for most combat missions.
TV presenter Olga Skabeeva stated in her Telegram channel that in fact, FAB-1500 was used in Volchansk. "Hang up for now: we are not talking about ODAB-9000. We are not wishful thinking. This is the FAB-1500, a thermobaric munition. The source is the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation," she assured.
Russia has only once claimed to test the "pope of all bombs"
Alexander Rukshin, who served as Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, announced in 2007 the successful tests of the new ODAB-9000 vacuum bomb. According to him, its damaging factors can only be compared with nuclear weapons.
The story about the trials was then shown on television. ODAB-9000 was parachuted from a Tu-160 bomber and successfully exploded. Rukshin assured that the action of this munition does not pollute the environment at all compared to nuclear ammunition.
The Russian military reported that the ODAB-9000 surpasses the American "mother of all bombs" weighing 9450 kilograms. According to them, with a smaller mass, the Russian ammunition is four times more powerful. The main damaging factor of the bomb is a supersonic explosive shock wave, as well as high temperature and ultrahigh pressure.
Military expert Vasily Dandykin, in an interview with MK, said that the carriers of the ODAB-9000 were Tu-160 and Tu-22M3 missile carriers. He noted that in order to use such a bomb, the aircraft would have to fly into the enemy's air defense zone. The expert also recalled that the information about the use of ODAB-9000 was not confirmed by the Ministry of Defense.
