Russian President Vladimir Putin’s deployment of Syrian barrel bomb “experts” could be a sign of weakness within the Kremlin army, defence insiders claim.
European intelligence officers told the Guardian that more than 50 specialists have been in Russia for several weeks working alongside officials from Putin’s army to potentially prepare for a similar campaign in the Ukraine war than that in Syria.
But defence experts believe Moscow could be claiming to roll out the makeshift aerial explosive devices after losing reams of technical equipment.
The Russian despot is pushing for last bid strategies to retain territory in the Donbas, as Russia seeks to encircle Severodonetsk, Lysychansk and Rubizhne.
Frank Ledwidge, a senior fellow at Portsmouth University and former military officer who has served in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, told the Mirror that deploying barrel bombs could be a sign of Putin’s weakness.
He said it demonstrates a “certain level of reduction in tactical adroitness and that Putin is going downmarket militarily.”
Barrel bombs are deadly weapons fashioned out of oil barrels, fuel tanks or gas cylinders which are packed with explosives, fuel and metal fragments, dropped from helicopters and planes.
Ledwidge says they’re akin to an “IRA bomb or al Qaeda suicide vest.”
While they’re very frightening and brutal for civilians, he says, from a military perspective they are not especially effective.
Barrel bombing entails “pushing a barrel full of explosives out the back of a cargo helicopter”, James Rushton, Independent foreign policy and security analyst tells the Mirror.
During the Syrian war, indiscriminate and disproportionate bombardments were rife, causing vast levels of destruction to neighbourhoods and killing thousands.
This was possible because the opposition rebels had “essentially no air defences for the majority of the war”, says Rushton, while the Government had vast air capabilities.
Rushton says the same tactic cannot work in Ukraine “considering the proliferation of man-portable air defence systems (MANPADS).”
Kyiv's forces are armed with MANPADS, anti-aircraft missiles that provide extensive air defence and can shoot down helicopters and fighter jets, which has thwarted Putin from winning air superiority.
Should the Kremlin try and use barrel bombs in Severodonetsk, “which is going to be the next big battle”, says Ledwidge, “they will get instantly shot down because the Ukrainian army has things that the Syrian opposition did not have.”
Russia has lost more Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters than any other manned aircraft in the war, due to Ukrainians advanced missile capabilities.
Ledwidge says Putin’s army is in “serious trouble”, he says they can try to deploy barrel bombs but Ukraine’s artillery is much stronger.
The US is poised to deploy HIMARs (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System), which, “if and when they are deployed will really make the Russians pause” Ledwidge says.
Kyiv is continually getting new artillery from powers across the globe and as the bloody war grinds on their capabilities are growing with the deployment of more and better artillery than at the start.
