A screen grab captured from a Russian Defense Ministry video shows crews of Su-34 fighter-bombers preparing a FAB-500 to attack Ukraine in 2024.
Russian Defense Ministry / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
Russia has been plagued for years by friendly-fire incidents with its glide bombs, showing flaws in how Moscow is waging its airstrike campaign, said the UK defense ministry."These instances demonstrate continued errors in Russia's ability to successfully employ their munitions on intended targets," the ministry said in an intelligence update published on Wednesday.The update cited an independent Russian open-source intelligence group, Astra, which has for years reported on and posted footage of destruction caused by glide bombs dropped on Russian soil and occupied Ukrainian territories.The group said in late May that the Russian air force had dropped at least 25 glide bombs on its controlled territories so far this year, after 143 incidents in 2025 and another 165 in 2024.Russia began hammering Ukraine with dozens of air-launched glide bomb attacks a day in 2023, and has gradually intensified the tempo of its strikes to now drop well over 100 munitions daily.The UK defense ministry estimated that the Kremlin now conducts over 200 fighter sorties a day, delivering about 180 to 250 glide bombs daily.The repeated friendly-fire incidents are likely due to a combination of poor procedures for arming the fighters and execution mistakes by air crews, the ministry wrote.
