Russian Aircraft Making a Habit of ‘Losing’ Bombs Over Belgorod

The news site ASTRA reported on its Telegram channel that two high explosive aerial bombs, that had probably been jettisoned by Russian aircraft, were discovered close to villages in the Belgorod region on Thursday March 28.

Commenting on the incident it said that Russian armed forces warplanes routinely drop munitions either en route to or returning from missions against Ukraine, most incidents occurring in the Belgorod region.

A FAB-250, a Soviet-era 250-kilogram (550-pound) general-purpose air-dropped bomb was found close to the village of Bezymeno on Thursday morning.  More than 140 residents were evacuated from the village, while the bomb was removed and destroyed that evening.

A second larger, FAB-500 500-kilogram (1,100 pound) general-purpose bomb was found that afternoon near the village of Nechaevka. The report says that village residents have not yet been evacuated. The two villages are both less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

On Jan. 21, a FAB-250 bomb fell near the Ionovka farmstead which partially damaged the local dam and interrupted the farm’s water supply.

FAB-250s fell on the village of Postnikovo, on Jan. 27 and on the villages of Soloti and Streletskoye on Feb. 22. Residents living within 500 meters of the bombs were evacuated with the bombs defused the next day.

It was reported on March 21, that two bombs fell on the region, one was found in the village of Vvedenskaya Gotnya, which was destroyed at a nearby military training ground. The second, is believed to have been “lost” over the village of Zamostye by a Russian pilot trying to engage Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion fighters in Kozinka, who had carried out cross-border incursion operations.

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On March 22, another aerial bomb was found near the village of Grayvoron, the accidental drop again being linked with connection attacks against the free-Russian forces. This was left lying because, as one Russian news site said, the area was littered with unexploded munitions from the fighting.

On March 27, another 500-kilogram aerial bomb was found near the village of Bessonovka, which was also destroyed the next day.

The FAB series of general-purpose high explosive fragmentation aviation bombs were developed in the Soviet Union in the 1950s and modified to be more streamlined and set up for carriage on fighter bombers’ external hard points in the 1960s. The FAB-500 contains around 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of explosives and the FAB-250 has 100 kilograms (220 pounds). The bombs are unguided, with a single nose fuse, and are compatible with most models of Soviet aircraft.