The UK Ministry of Defence says Russia’s glide bomb campaign is marred by repeated friendly-fire incidents—linked to poor arming procedures, execution mistakes, and crew fatigue—while also pointing to past Russian admissions involving Belgorod.
For years. Russia’s glide bombs have carried a costly flaw: they sometimes go wrong on Russia’s own soil and in areas Moscow controls. In a new intelligence update published on Wednesday. the UK defense ministry said these incidents reveal “continued errors” in how Moscow employs the munitions on intended targets—an operational problem that can ripple far beyond military paperwork.
“The frequency of these occurrences likely demonstrates a degree of air and ground crew fatigue within the Russian force, as well as exposing inadequate military training,” the ministry wrote.
The update cited an independent Russian open-source intelligence group. Astra. which has reported on and posted footage of destruction caused by glide bombs dropped on Russian soil and on Ukrainian territories under Russian control. Astra reported that in late May the Russian air force had dropped at least 25 glide bombs on its controlled territories so far this year. after 143 incidents in 2025 and another 165 in 2024.
That year-to-year climb arrives as Russia’s air campaign has expanded in intensity. The UK defense ministry said Russia began hammering Ukraine with dozens of air-launched glide bomb attacks a day in 2023. then gradually increased the tempo to now drop well over 100 munitions daily. It estimated the Kremlin is now conducting over 200 fighter sorties a day, delivering about 180 to 250 glide bombs daily.
Against that backdrop of scale, the UK ministry pointed to what it believes is the cause of the friendly-fire pattern. The repeated incidents, it wrote, are likely due to a combination of “poor procedures for arming the fighters” and “execution mistakes by air crews.”
The guidance kits at the center of the weapon’s use help explain why such errors can become lethal for civilians. Russian fighter aircraft often launch glide bombs at Ukraine from inside friendly territory, using FAB general-purpose bombs modified with UPMK guidance kits.
Analysts have previously said that the rate of friendly-fire incidents—incidents that often injure or kill civilians in Russian border cities such as Belgorod—may be connected to guidance kits being faulty or of poor quality. Russian officials in affected areas have acknowledged such errors before.
One of the most explicit admissions came in April 2023, when Russia’s defense ministry said a Su-34 had mistakenly dropped a bomb in an “abnormal descent of aviation ammunition” on Belgorod. Local authorities said the munition left a 60-foot-wide crater and injured two women.
Russia’s defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.
The central tension in the UK’s assessment is not only that errors happen. but that they keep happening as operations surge. If the volume of glide bomb drops continues while mistakes recur. the gap between targeting claims and real-world outcomes can widen—turning what should be a precision strike system into something that also carries risk for the people living near the launch routes.
UK Ministry of Defence Russia glide bombs friendly fire Astra UPMK guidance kits FAB-500 Su-34 Belgorod crew fatigue military training airstrike campaign
So basically Russia’s own bombs are turning on them? Wild.
I’m not saying I don’t believe it but “friendly fire” could be propaganda right? Like this sounds like one more UK/US thing trying to make Russia look incompetent. Still though, if it’s happening that much then yeah, fatigue/training problems make sense.
How does a glide bomb “go wrong” on Russia’s own soil but also somehow still counts as “their targets”? Sounds like the article is mixing two things. Also Belgorod gets brought up like it automatically proves training failure, which… I don’t know. Maybe the crews are just tired from flying too much, sure.
“Over 200 fighter sorties a day” is insane, no wonder someone’s gonna mess up arming or execution. But then they cite an open-source group and old admissions and I’m like okay so whose footage is this, Astra? I’ve seen random clips on Twitter that get reposted as proof and sometimes it’s not even the same bomb. Either way, sounds like Russia is burning through equipment and people.