Russia has been attacking Ukraine by land, sea and air since February 24. Although Russia initially intended to quickly overthrow the Ukrainian government, so far the Russian military has controlled only one Ukrainian city, and that is Port Kherson. And which weapons involved in this war have attracted attention.
In the first week of the war, Russia shifted from using cruise missiles to strategic strikes against military targets to stagnant ground attacks. This has now shifted to a broader siege of major cities, including the use of rockets and cluster munitions for bombing.
The following is a summary of the weapons used in the two sides to fight.
Targeted missile attacks
In the first hours of the invasion, Russia extensively deployed cruise missiles, and precision short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) were used on a large scale in war for the first time. According to U.S. estimates, Russia's first onslaught included launching more than 100 missiles from land and sea.
Timothy Wright, a research analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said Russia was most likely to use its only active precision short-range ballistic missile, the Iskander-M missile.
Ukraine's old ballistic missile OTR-21 Tochka is in limited supply, and in the first days of the war, Ukraine used at least one such missile to attack Russian air bases inside Russia, according to media reports.
According to IISS, the Iskander-M has a larger range than the Tochka, and its launcher can carry more than one missile.
On February 25, the day after the Russo-Ukrainian war, the Ukrainian military command said that areas near the cities of Sumy, Poltava and Mariupol were hit by 3M14 Kalibr cruise missiles fired by Russian forces from the Black Sea toward Ukraine.
The Kalibr is a ground-attack cruise missile (LACM) with a range estimated at 1,500 to 2,500 km for precision strikes. Its exact circular error is unknown, but it is estimated to be less than 5 meters.
Still, IISS defense researcher Joseph Dempsey said some of the Russian forces' strikes on Ukrainian air bases appeared to be relatively limited and in some cases missed important targets, such as hitting stockpiled rather than combat aircraft.
Wright said Ukraine has the Cold War-era Russian-made S-300V air defense missile system, which also has anti-ballistic missile capabilities. He added that it was unclear whether Ukraine had used any anti-aircraft missile systems against Russian missiles. Some S-300V vehicles appear to have been destroyed in the attack.
With Moscow failing to quickly overthrow the Ukrainian government in the first few days of the offensive, the effectiveness of its missile launches appears to be limited. While Russia's air power has vastly outpaced Ukraine's, the latter's air force is still operational and experts say its air defense system is still viable — a fact that has puzzled some military analysts.
A stagnant ground war
On the two main fronts in the east and north, the Russians have made little progress so far, and The two largest ukrainian cities, Kiev and Kharkov, have not been lost in the face of increasing Russian bombardment.
U.S. defense officials said this week that the U.S. believes the Ukrainian resistance is feasible and very determined, and that even though Moscow has poured in almost all of its troops reserved for the invasion, russian forces are becoming increasingly frustrated.
The United States and European countries provided Ukraine with a variety of hardware, including advanced weapons that could destroy armored vehicles. These missiles are particularly effective in urban combat, providing Ukrainian combat teams with more opportunities to hide themselves for ambushes.
These weapons include the next-generation anti-tank missile system NLAW, jointly developed by Britain and Sweden, and the FGM-148 Javelin, an American light system that can destroy tanks from several kilometers away.
Photos from Ukraine show abandoned Russian vehicles, including tanks, raising questions about the logistical problems Russians encountered after the Ukrainian attack. A senior U.S. defense official said of the Russian military that it was unclear whether this was a planned or an implementation failure, but added that the Russian military may adapt and change the way they operate.
Another tool for Ukraine that has become important in combat is the Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat vehicle. It is a Turkish-made drone that can carry small anti-armor weapons.
Ukraine's ambassador to Ankara, Vasily Bodner, said the drones were very effective; videos released by the Ukrainian military showed them being used to destroy Russian convoy vehicles. Turkey has sold several batches of TB2 drones to Kiev.
This drone can carry small arms and is likely to be a Rockitsan mini smart ammunition. The munition can glide up to 8 km before impact. The bombs weighed only 22 kg but were designed to penetrate armor and destroy vehicles.
Siege tactics of the Russian army
In recent days, the Russian military has shifted its strategy from direct attacks on Ukraine's defenses to siege warfare. Russian troops last week warned Kiev residents to flee their homes before bombing the city and poured rockets into Kharkov, flattening homes and other civilian infrastructure.
The Mariupol City Council said Russian forces had repeatedly and deliberately shelled the city's vital civilian infrastructure to leave it without water, heating or electricity, and to prevent it from bringing in supplies or evacuating people.
The BM-21 is one of the Multiple Rocket Launch Systems (MLRS) used by the Russian military. A battalion with 18 launchers can fire 720 rockets in a single salvo. Rockets are unguided and less accurate than typical artillery; they cannot be used in situations where precise positioning is required. To destroy a target, it depends on a large number of rockets scattered throughout an area.
Siege tactics typically involve encircling enemy positions, cutting off supplies and escape routes, and then attacking with a combined force of armored forces, ground forces, and engineers.
British Defence Minister Ben Wallace said on Thursday that the Russian military had also deployed a vacuum bomb system in Ukraine, which had raised concerns among Western observers about how widely the vacuum bomb could be used.