Cluster bombs are weapons which deliver a group of smaller weapons (known as submunitions) carried together in a single warhead which are then expelled as the carrier approaches its target. These smaller bombs scatter over wide areas which is why they are often deployed to destroy huge areas in one hit. These cluster bombs can be launched by a missile or projectile and often leave submunitions scattered which can explode later, causing extra delayed damage.
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Russia has previously used such catastrophic weapons on Ukrainian territory in 2014.
According to Bellingcat, Russia now uses rockets with cluster bombs launching from BM-27 Uragan and BM-30 Smerch rocket launcher systems.
Multiple cluster bombs fired on Kharkiv
Being located 25 kilometers from the Russian border, Kharkiv came under massive shelling in recent days, including cluster bombs.
An example is the case when the tail of the missile got stuck in Kharkiv at the coordinates 49.987345, 36.261194. It was possible to track the direction of the flight from the pedestrian crossing, which can be seen from the pictures below:
Journalists studied open-source pictures with seven warheads from Kharkiv and proved these originated from the northeast, where the Russian border is located.
Uragan and Smerch’s maximum flight range is 35 and 70 kilometers respectively. Meaning they can easily be launched from Russian territory, where they are relatively safe. This tactic was widely used during the war in Ukraine in 2014.
Courtesy of Bellingcat
Due to the nature of Cluster Bombs, the war head can disperse bombs across a huge area. So even if Russian artillery may target military areas, these bombs easily reach and damage city blocks and residential areas.
Kindergarten in Okhtyrka
On February 25, in the town of Okhtyrka, which is about 100 kilometers to the west of Kharkiv, an artillery strike resulted in the death of several people, including children.
The following video shows the aftermath and victims of this attack:
The Bellingcat Team managed to geolocate the remnants of the 9M72K rocket cluster warhead about 200 meters to the east of the kindergarten. It might have been launched by the Uragan Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS).
Courtesy of Bellingcat
In this case, it turns out that the rocket flew over the kindergarten from the northwest.
Both before and after the attack, there were numerous reports on social media of Russian troops in and around Okhtyrka, including west of the city on the Okhtyrka-Zinkiv road and in the neighboring village of Chupakhivka.