While abuses have been strong in Boutcha (Ukraine) for several weeks, a new weapon would be used there by the Russians: the dart shell. Not very destructive and authorized by international conventions on weapons, this device is intended to terrorize the local population.
Determined to undermine the morale of Ukrainian soldiers and patriots, the Russian military has been using the dart shell on the battlefield for more than a week. Still little known outside the military circle, this weapon is intended to instil fear among the civilians targeted.
In an article dated Monday, February 18, the Washington Post notably collected the testimony of Svutlana Chmut, a Ukrainian living in Boutcha and having discovered hundreds of metal projectiles from this armament in her garden, on the roof of her house and on his car.
Small darts of 2 to 4 cm
Its use is intended to cause maximum human damage to the enemy since its impact on infrastructure and equipment remains very low.
Civilians killed by dart shells in Ukraine? : “It’s a war crime”, Bruno Clermont in #TheMorning pic.twitter.com/jWW2BLu8gc
— CNEWS (@CNEWS) April 26, 2022
“The principle is to fill shells with thousands of small darts of 2 to 4 cm with small fins, you shoot the shell at a great distance and then, at a certain height the shell explodes and will spread at a very high speed and with a lot of energy all these darts which will basically water 3 football fields in one shell”, detailed Bruno Clermont, general of the air corps (2S), in the Morning on CNEWS.
In use since the First World War, the dart shell has been authorized by international weapons conventions. It can be fired by a tank or an artillery piece and was notably used by the American army during the Vietnam war as well as by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip until 2010.
