Russia just lost another extremely rare weapons system in Ukraine

A recently released video revealed that Russian forces have lost another extremely rare, and very expensive, weapon somewhere along the frontlines in Donetsk.

The video was shared on the Telegram channel of Andriy Yarmak—Ukraine's Head of the Presidential Office—and, according to Newsweek’s Nick Mordowanec, it captured the exact moment a TOS-1 or TOS-1A thermobaric multiple rocket launcher vehicle exploded after it was struck by Ukrainian forces.

Screenshot photo by Telegram at https://t.me/operativnoZSU

Mordowanec called the destroyed Russian vehicle “one of the most dangerous weapons in existence,” and he did so for very good reason. Russia’s thermobaric rocket systems are one of the world’s deadliest armaments. 

Designed in the late-1980s as a heavy flamethrower system according to Military-Today, the TOS-1 was made for firing directly onto advancing infantry and tank units by spreading flammable gas onto the battlefield.

“It is extremely effective against entrenched personal,” Military-Today noted, and “is used to clear out buildings, field fortifications, and bunkers.”

The reason why Russia’s thermobaric multiple rocket launcher systems are so feared is mostly because of the devastating effects they can have on the soldiers they attack. 

The TOS-1 and TOS-1A use a type of explosive munition that Insider’s Chris Panella noted are often called vacuum bombs because of the way they explode and destroy a battlefield. 

“Their function features a two-stage munition, which involves dispersing a cloud of fuel into the air before detonating the cloud, creating an intense blast wave,” Panella wrote. 

Sebastian Roblin of The National Interest wrote in a 2020 article that a rocket barrage from a TOS-1 could “wipe out everything” within the weapon's blast zone. “Victims near the center of a TOS-1 blast radius are crushed to death.”

"Further out, the overpressure can break bones, dislocate eyes, cause internal hemorrhaging, and rupture eardrums, bowels, and other internal organs,” The National Interest writer continued.

“It also sucks the air out of victims’ lungs, possibly causing them to collapse, leading to death by suffocation,” Roblin added. “To put it concisely, these are amongst the most devastating explosive weapons short of tactical nuclear weapons.”

A TOS-1A thermobaric rocket system can cost more than $6.5 million according to Newsweek and it has been exported to countries like Iraq, Armenia, and Kazakstan. 

Thermobaric weapons like the TOS-1 and the TOS-1A exist in a grey area of international law according to Matt Montazzoli of the Lieber Institute at West Point. 

“While the weapons themselves are not unlawful,” Mantazzoli wrote, “their use to directly target civilians would violate the [Law of Armed Conflict].” 

Jordan Cohan is a policy analyst at the Cato Institute and he told Newsweek that the destruction of Russia’s thermobaric weapons system was “a genuinely good thing.”

“I am of the belief that there should be a norm against using them,” Cohan said. “They cannot be countered once launched, so destroying the launchers ahead of time is the only real way to stop them."

"Given what has been happening in the Donetsk,” Cohan continued, “destroying this launcher is generally good for human rights—no matter one's position on the war."