Video evidence has the internet talking- has Ukraine deployed a top secret death
ray against Russia? What weapon is Ukraine really using to cause these explosions,
how does it work? And why are these videos proof that Russia may be losing the war?
Late last year as the battle for Bakhmut began to really heat up,
videos made the rounds online showing a perplexing sight- Russian soldiers being
decimated in groups by something that looked a lot like a death ray. Each video typically
showed a group of Russians walking along, when suddenly there was a bright flash followed by
an instant smoke trail and a large explosion where the Russian soldiers had previously been
standing. What remains afterwards is something we can't show you without being demonetized,
but if you've ever thrown eggs against a wall- well you're starting to get the picture.
The videos have many people wondering what in the world is this devastating new weapon, and how is
Ukraine using it with pinpoint precision? Rumors started to circulate about 'Ukrainian death rays',
directed energy weapons that used concentrated light to incinerate Russian troops. Others
proposed particle beams- basically streams of microscopic particles being accelerated to a
portion of the speed of light. The origin of these Wunderwaffe was as speculative as their nature,
with some believing the US was deploying super secret tech, others no doubt believing they came
from aliens or Atlantis itself. The internet is a wild place with no shortage of crazy.
But the truth is a lot more down to earth, unfortunately for the Russians
being decimated by it. Because not only is the weapon being used here pretty conventional,
it's very widespread and being supplied in numbers by NATO. So what are we dealing with exactly?
Our resident military veteran was quick to identify this weapon after we showed him a
few videos of it. Each video is largely the same- a group of Russian soldiers is walking around,
often entirely too casually to be so close to the front lines,
when suddenly there's a flash of light or small explosion. Within nanoseconds there's
a much larger explosion at the location the Russian troops used to occupy before
being liberated of all their limbs and hurled dozens of feet in every direction.
First thoughts were that it might be an artillery shell similar to western smart anti-tank shells.
These special munitions are meant to take out tanks, and work by being fired out of 155mm
artillery from over 20 miles away. The munitions then deploy small wings and spiral downwards,
scanning for enemy vehicles. When identified, the munition triggers an explosion- and this is
where the genius part comes in. The actual explosive lines a hollow metal cavity,
and the force of the explosion is designed to shape that metal layer into a superheated,
very dense projectile. The explosively formed projectile, or EFP, has less penetration power
than a HEAT or shaped charge warhead which works by creating a superheated jet of molten metal,
but it has far greater range. HEAT and shaped charge explosive jets have very little range due
to cooling and loss of energy, but an explosively formed penetrator can still travel for hundreds
of meters. Decades ago the US air force began testing these weapons with incredible success
And the US was quick to share the technology with Ukraine, who used it to great effect.
In the following video you can see the telltale explosion several hundred meters over the target,
followed immediately by a second explosion as the EFP strikes the Russian vehicle and destroys it.
But there's one problem with this theory in regards to our Ukrainian Death Rays-
in each video the smoke trail created after the initial explosion always leads away from
the location of the strike, instead of to the location of the strike. This rules out EFPs,
which by themselves don't carry any explosive charge anyways. Because
they rely on sheer kinetic energy to destroy enemy vehicles, EFPs can't be
responsible for the large explosions we see in the Ukrainian death ray videos.
The fact that there is both an explosion and an incriminating smoke trail leading
away from the explosion means that this mystery death ray is anything but. In fact,
it's a weapon that Ukraine has quite a lot of both from its own stockpiles and western deliveries.
All evidence here points to a high explosive antitank warhead being
used in a secondary role to strike personnel. Much like a EFP weapon,
a HEAT warhead works by using a shaped charge inside a hollow cone lined with metal. But this
time the explosion is far more powerful and meant to produce a superheated stream of liquid metal,
perfect for penetrating heavy vehicle armor plating. However, it's not so great as an
antipersonnel tool since the stream is very narrow and the weapon produces very little fragmentation.
We can rule out American Javelins or European NLAWs as the culprits here. While both can be
used in a pinch as an antipersonnel weapon, each missile is also incredibly expensive. As
one Ukrainian soldier described it, it's like firing a Ferrari everytime you pull
the trigger on the launch unit. And he's not wrong, each Javelin costs around $100,000.
But Ukraine has another weapon in very large supply, the Stugna-P. This is a homebrewed,
Ukrainian-made anti-tank guided missile developed by the Luch design bureau. It
entered service in 2011, with the weapon seeing very widespread use during the Russian invasion.
It's not as sophisticated as western anti-tank weapons, lacking a fire and forget capability
and instead requiring its launcher to keep a target painted with a laser- similar to the
American TOW missile. However, that doesn't make it less effective when it actually hits a target,
packing a tandem charge HEAT warhead that can slice through 800 millimeters of steel armor and
punch right past explosive reactive armor plates. T-72s, T-80s, and even T-90s have been helpless
against this weapon, and Ukraine has even used it to shoot down hovering Russian helicopters.
Another variant of the missile, known as the RK-20F, might be what we're looking at in
these videos. This missile variant features a high explosive fragmentation warhead, and
is designed to take out lightly armored vehicles, small buildings, and field fortifications. With a
price of between $10,000 to $20,000 a missile, this is a much more affordable solution if
your home too is facing infestation by Russian soldiers. And the results speak for themselves,
as the Ukrainians are able to strike with pinpoint accuracy well behind enemy lines.
What we see in these videos is likely both variants of the Stugna's missile being
used. In some videos we can see tightly packed groups of soldiers bein absolutely decimated,
while their buddies a little further away are relatively unharmed. This would be tell-tale
evidence of a HEAT variant being used, with the liquid metal blast atomizing enemy personnel in
a very small radius, while leaving everyone else dazed but relatively unharmed. However,
other videos clearly show the HE-FRAG variant, with a telltale smoke trail
ending with a large explosion. In those videos, typically nobody gets up again.
These videos point at a bigger picture though. Why in the world is Ukraine
using anti-tank weapons against Russian personnel. Or that question may better
be asked- where in the world are Russia's assault vehicles? Why is
Russian infantry being used dismounted to attack entrenched enemy positions?
The videos of Russian personnel being blasted into orbit or atomized by superheated molten
metal are evidence that Russia is having the exact problem that western observers
noted it would have months ago. Russia has been forced to rush hundreds of thousands of
conscripts through basic military training, and as many in the west correctly observed,
these conscripts would not receive nearly enough training to be employed as part of a modern,
mechanized assault force. Infantry working in close cooperation with armored vehicles
requires months of training and specialized techniques, which Russia simply doesn't have
the time to teach to its new conscripts. Trying to put together an armored assault
with a conscript force would leave the vehicles unsupported and vulnerable to anti-tank weapons,
which seems to be how Russia does business anyways judging by how many tanks they've lost to ATGMs.
So instead, being left with poorly trained soldiers and an ever decreasing vehicle fleet,
Russia is forced to do things the old fashioned way. In Russia, the battle of Stalingrad is a
heroic turning point in modern history, and the Russians do love to remember the good old
glory days when literally millions of soldiers died because Stalin's only strategy was to jam
German guns with human bodies. Now, Russian conscripts are being forced to use the same
tactics their great grandfathers did against the Nazis- but with far, far more terrible results.
Russia has historically placed very little value on human life,
and videos of Russian troops assaulting with no armored support prove that Putin
is out of options, and forced to rely on the tried-and-tested Russian doctrine of war:
pour enough meat into the meat grinder that it eventually jams.
Want to know more about how things are unfolding in Ukraine? Check out “How
Ukraine Snipers Take Out Vehicles From 2,500 Feet” or watch this video instead.