Ukraine has carried out an airstrike to destroy Russia's drone control and communication hub in Vovchansk. A video of a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 fighter jet dropping a 500-pound (about 226 kilograms) Joint Direct Attack Munition Extended Range (JDAM-ER) precision glide bomb on a Russian drone team hiding in the upper levels of a grain elevator has surfaced on social media.
The clip, widely shared on X, begins with a sweeping view of the grain elevator. Moments later, a Ukrainian Su-27 swoops in at high altitude and drops a bomb on the top floors of the structure.
The bomb strikes its target, causing a powerful explosion, sending debris and smoke billowing into the air.
The bomb used in the strike was a GBU-62 fitted with a JDAM-ER kit. It has also been modified to work with older Soviet MiG-29 jets in Ukraine, according to local media.
The GBU-62 itself is a 500-pound bomb based on the standard Mk-82. It is upgraded with a JDAM GPS/INS guidance system, allowing the bomb to steer itself towards a target using satellite and internal navigation.
The ER glide module lets the bomb glide through the air instead of dropping steeply, which means the aircraft can hit the target without flying too close to it.
A day prior to the blast, the Azov 1st Corps, part of Ukraine's National Guard, said that its combat drone operators managed to stop and destroy a Russian MTU-72 armoured bridgelayer in Donetsk.
The MTU-72 is a special Russian military vehicle used to help other vehicles cross obstacles such as rivers or deep trenches. By targeting and destroying this vehicle, the Ukrainian forces prevented Russian tanks and armored vehicles from crossing these barriers.
Exclusive drone footage obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday shows a heavily damaged Ukrainian town, Myrnohrad, surrounded by Russian forces. The footage shows that most streets and buildings are damaged.
Oleksii Hodzenko, press officer of the drone battalion of the 38th Marine Brigade, said, "They are trying to simply erase the (town) from the face of the Earth."
Ukraine's eastern military command said that it was sending supplies to troops in Myrnohrad using ground-robot drones to deliver food and water to soldiers still in the town.
