Police: Russia drops 1,500-kilogram bomb on village in Kharkiv Oblast

The aftermath of the Russian strike on the village of Monachynivka in the Kupiansk district in Kharkiv Oblast on May 5, 2024. (Kharkiv Oblast Police)

Russian forces struck Kharkiv Oblast with a FAB-1500 air-dropped bomb for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Kharkiv Oblast Police reported on May 6.

Russian troops used the bomb in the May 5 attack on the village of Monachynivka in the Kupiansk district.

The strike killed an 88-year-old woman and injured a 34-year-old man. The woman’s body was found under the rubble after the fire was extinguished.

Serhii Bolvinov, head of the investigative department of the regional police, said that the FAB-1500 bomb, a 1.5-tonne weapon of which nearly half comprises high explosives, was equipped with a special module that allowed it to glide in the air after being dropped.

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“Everything around shuddered as if an earthquake had begun. A single blow destroyed an entire street,”Bolvinov wrote on Facebook.

The Russian military previously used the FAB-1500 bombs in Donetsk Oblast to hit local factories, energy infrastructure, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ positions.

This bomb is usually delivered from above by fighter jets from 60-70 kilometers, out of range of most Ukrainian air defense systems.

Russia recently intensified attacks against Kharkiv and Kharkiv Oblast, using missiles, glide bombs, and drones to destroy energy infrastructure and kill civilians. Over the past day, at least 20 people were injured, and one person was killed due to the recent strikes.