Russian occupiers first deployed the highly powerful guided aerial bomb UPAБ-1500B, weighing 1500 kilograms, in May 2022. This bomb features a warhead mass of 1010 kilograms and a deployment range of up to 40 kilometers.
As the initial "target" for this bomb, the aggressors chose an agro-complex in the city of Putivl in the Sumy region. The order to use the UPAБ-1500B was given by as many as five generals of the Russian Armed Forces, according to the press service of the SBU.
As specified by the security service, the chain of commands for deploying the UPAБ-1500B in this instance was as follows. The initiator was the commander of the Western Military District of the Russian Armed Forces, Colonel General Alexander Zhuravlyov, who involved his deputy, Lieutenant General Alexey Zavizion, in planning this attack.
The next step was the command to deploy the UPAБ-1500B directly from the commander of the "Russian Aerospace Forces," Lieutenant General Sergey Dronov, who received the corresponding request from Commander Zhuravlyov.
Among the immediate executors of this attack were two more Russian generals, namely Major General Sergey Meshcheryakov, Chief of Staff and First Deputy Commander of the "Russian Aerospace Forces," and Major General Radik Bariyev, head of the 929th Flight Test Center of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
As further detailed in the SBU report, the UPAБ-1500B was dropped by a Su-34 aircraft, which took off from the "Akhtubinsk" airfield, where the aforementioned 929th Flight Test Center of the Russian Ministry of Defense is located.
From Defense Express, we would like to emphasize that such a complex command chain involving five generals and "only" two colonels (according to the SBU case materials) may be related to the actual status of the UPAБ-1500B as a modern type of aerial weapon at that time.
It is worth noting that the first public presentation of this guided aerial bomb occurred only in 2019, and by that time, the aggressors claimed that it had supposedly completed all necessary tests. However, it seems that as of May 2022, the UPAБ-1500B could have had the actual status of an "untested" bomb for the Russian military, which is why its deployment was entrusted to the 929th Flight Center of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Moreover, it should be noted that the deployment range of the UPAБ-1500B up to 40 kilometers is only achievable if the carrier aircraft ascends to an altitude of 14 kilometers, making it (the carrier aircraft) vulnerable to air defense systems. Ultimately, striking a civilian target is unequivocally a war crime, for which it is unlikely that anyone among the aggressors wanted to bear individual responsibility.
Thus, it appears that in this case, such a complex command chain was dictated by two principles: "mutual assurance" and "just in case something goes wrong."
We should also emphasize that the first public announcement of the use of UPAБ-1500B by the aggressors in the war against Ukraine was in March 2023, when debris from this bomb was found following an enemy airstrike in the Chernihiv region. As we can see, almost two years after this episode, new information has emerged regarding the use of UPAБ-1500B by the aggressors against our country.