Russia drops hundreds of guided aerial bombs in Ukraine in first week of May

Overall, the average number of guided aerial bombs used remained at 120 per day, Ukrainian military observer Oleksandr Kobalenko says.

Donetsk region remains the most intensive location for the use of glide bombs, especially in the areas of the villages and towns of Novooleksandrivka, Kalynove and Tarasivka. In recent days, up to fifty guided aerial bombs have been used there per day.

Regular strikes are also carried out in Kharkiv region, although with less intensity than in Donetsk region. Kharkiv itself, Pischane, Verkhnya Pysarivka, Stara Saltivka, etc. are mainly targeted.

"To summarize, I will say nothing new. It all boils down to the issue of saturation of the battle line with air defense equipment capable of intercepting guided aerial bombs carriers, primarily Su-34s. As of the beginning of May, there are no cardinal changes in this issue," Kovalenko said.

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Another solution to the problem could be systematic and effective strikes on the Su-34 basing sites or warehouses with the bombs themselves, and even the unified planning and correction module. But the systematic nature of such activity has not been recorded yet. 

Guided bombs with a range of 40-60 km are delivered from above by fighter jets, which are out of range of many Ukrainian air defenses. Russian military transforms Soviet freefalling bombs into guided ones by adding a UMPC “planning and correction module”, wings and satellite navigation.