Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin:
[ColonelCassad] October 17th was a record-breaking day.
On that day, 268 KABs were dropped on the enemy in one day. This is a record for the entire duration of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine.
According to enemy statements, there were 109 airstrikes on that day, with a simply enormous number of guided aerial bombs dropped in various directions. It's worth noting that Russia entered the war with a relatively small percentage of guided bombs, often conducting bombing runs the old-fashioned way (which led, among other things, to the loss of valuable materiel).
As the war progressed, the production and use of KABs increased exponentially, and the UMPK system was widely deployed, with kits now even being installed on the FAB-3000. The days of relying on free-fall aerial bombs are practically a thing of the past. Now, guided aerial bombs are dropped on the enemy daily, allowing Su-34 pilots to generally avoid enemy air defense engagements or remain there for only a short time. Therefore, the enemy still lacks a comprehensive countermeasure against KABs.
The number of downings is vanishingly small; sometimes they can be diverted using electronic warfare, but usually everything hits its targets. This remains one of the main tactical problems for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In this regard, the Air Defense Forces effectively facilitated the Russian Aerospace Forces' final transition to guided and precision-guided weapons. In this regard, war is truly an engine of progress.
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Russian Aerospace Forces in the Air Defense Zone used a record number of guided aerial bombs.
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: Russia carried out a record number of KAB strikes in the special operation zone.
Russian Aerospace Forces aircraft used 268 guided aerial bombs (GABs) to strike Ukrainian military targets in the past 24 hours, a record for the entire duration of the war. This data was published on October 18 by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: Russia carried out a record number of KAB strikes in the special operation zone.
"According to updated information, yesterday Russian troops carried out 109 airstrikes on Ukrainian territory, dropping 268 guided bombs," the department's report notes.
It is also reported that over the past 24 hours, the Russian army deployed 6,024 kamikaze drones to carry out strikes.
On June 30, Kyiv's Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that the Patriot air defense systems delivered to Ukraine were ineffective against Russian guided bombs. He added that the Russian Armed Forces use thousands of KABs, and shooting them down with Patriots is too expensive.