They are cheap—and surprisingly effective
, this can be a drawback. With a typical weight of just 300 grams, grenades are short on “killing power”, says a man nicknamed “Lyosha”, who is an amateur weapons-maker based in Kyiv. After one goes off, he says, targeted Russian soldiers “often just keep running”.
Necessity is the mother of invention, and the Zaychyk is but one example of the sorts of lethal innovation that have sprung up in Ukraine in the 17 months since Russia’s invasion. Stocks of many factory-built munitions have shrunk as the fighting has worn on. But raw explosives remain plentiful. That has helped create an amateur arms industry devoted to supplying soldiers at the front with improvised weapons to use against Russian troops.
Improvised munitions are not a direct replacement for the factory-made sort. But they have advantages. For one thing, they are cheap. Emanuel Zmudzinski, a Wild Bees volunteer in Lodz, Poland, makes the components—a nose cone, body and tail fin—for a 27cm-tall model called the Big Egg for less than €3.50 , not including the explosive contents, on a 3printer that cost around $1,200. With no need to retool production lines, candy bombs can be readily produced in different sizes.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Ukraine war latest: Zelenskyy warns 'war is returning to Russia'; reports of 'fierce fighting' in northeastThe Ukrainian president has warned war in Russia is 'inevitable' as he claimed his troops are 'getting stronger'. His comments came after Moscow suffered a drone attack earlier. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has been marking Navy Day in St Petersburg by pledging to deliver more warships.
Read more »