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What are dreaded Russian NBC Protection Troops? Horrifying bombs may be fired by special forces

It has been reported that Moscow has attacked the Ukrainian city of Mariupol using a TOS-1a ‘Heavy Flamethrower system’, claiming hundreds of lives

Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is getting severe day by day as recent footage, reportedly shared by Russia Today and the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), showed Moscow firing thermobaric missiles at the city of Mariupol. It has been reported that Russia's attack on Ukraine's tenth-largest city using a TOS-1a ‘Heavy Flamethrower system’ claimed hundreds of lives. In one of the clips, a person said, “The DNR's People's Militia with support of the Russian armed forces during a special operation in Ukraine are targeting positions of nationalists around Mariupol with the help of the TOS-1a.”

A report by the Daily Mail stated that Russia discharged a number of thermobaric weapons at the southern port city, which are more dangerous than traditional bombs. “When a thermobaric charge is deployed, the first blast sprays a fuel vapor throughout the surrounding area, before a second blast ignites the vapor cloud in the air. This results in a huge explosion, triggering a high-temperature fireball which sucks up the oxygen in the surrounding area and creates a massive blast wave,” the report added.

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General Sir Richard Barrons, a former head of the UK's Joint Forces Command, had earlier spoken about the level of destruction thermobaric weapons can cause. Barrons said, “Unleashing thermobaric weapons and the mass concentrated use of heavy artillery will cause the indiscriminate, unnecessary, and unwarranted slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent people.” Also, as per the Journal of Military and Veterans' Health, thermobaric weapons “predominantly affect the pulmonary, cardiovascular, auditory, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems.”

However, it has been said that TOS-1a does not come under the Russian army domain. The 220mm 30-barrel or 24-barrel multiple rocket launcher is reportedly controlled by the Russian NBC Protection Troops. “TOS-1 is not assigned to the artillery units of the Russian Armed Forces but is found in Russian NBC Protection Troops. That is why it does not have a GRAU index, but rather an RKhBZ index—МO.1.01.00,” the Defensebridge mentioned.

It also stated, “TOS-1 was designed for defeating enemy personnel in fortifications, in open country, and in lightly armored vehicles and transport. First combat tests took place in 1988–1989 in the Panjshir Valley during the Soviet-Afghan War.”

What are dreaded Russian NBC Protection Troops?

The Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) Protection Troops are reportedly part of the Russian Federation. The task of these troops is to carry out “the most complex set of measures aimed at reducing the loss of associations and formations of the Ground Forces and ensuring their combat tasks assigned during operations in conditions of radioactive, chemical and biological contamination, as well as at enhancing their survivability and protection against high-precision and other weapons.”

According to ‘The Kalashnikova Show: Russia’s Military Secrets with Anna Knishenko’, the NBC Protection Troops also combat hidden enemies like radiation and viruses with the help of complex apparatus to find chemical agents and biological weapons. The NBC troops were also positioned at Chernobyl during the nuclear reactor accident and were sent to Europe when the Covid pandemic hit.