Ukrainian strikes Russian storage of deadly glide bombs

Ukrainian suicide drones reportedly targeted Russian storage facilities containing deadly glide bombs during overnight strikes on April 27 in the Slavyansk, Severny, and Kushchevsky districts of the Krasnodar Krai region, Russia.

The Governor of Krasnodar Krai, Veniamin Kondratyev, confirmed explosions in Slavyansk-na-Kubani on April 27, describing them as an attempted large-scale drone attack on oil refineries and infrastructure facilities in the region.

Russian media subsequently published footage allegedly showing the aftermath of an attack on a military airfield in Kushchevskaya, Krasnodar Krai, revealing the destruction of a storage facility where Russia’s wing kits for ‘dumb’ bombs were reportedly housed.

Visible in the footage were control units and fairings of the UMPK, or Unified Gliding and Correction Module. The UMPK is a wing kit assembly used to convert unguided bombs into precision-guided munitions. Russia has upgraded heavy Soviet-era aviation bombs, outfitting them with planning and guidance modules, thus creating a relatively inexpensive alternative to guided missiles.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said that Russia is using glide bombs, along with direct-attack munitions, in volume to overwhelm Ukrainian air defense.