Concerns have risen over Russia's use of thermobaric weapons or vacuum bombs, after Ukraine's ambassador to the United States said a vacuum bomb had been used during the current attack on his country.

Although this information has not yet been confirmed, the Guardian newspaper says that footage from Ukraine showed thermal missile launchers on Russian TOS-1 vehicles.

"Even if it is not yet clear whether Russia has deployed these weapons yet in Ukraine, it is only a matter of time," Dr. Marcus Heller, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said in a report on the subject.

What does that mean?

This is what this report answers by asking 4 questions:

First, what is a vacuum bomb?

The vacuum bomb contains solid fuel ammunition that burns at high speed and turns into a flammable aerosol gas or liquid that absorbs oxygen, and atmospheric pressure attacks from all sides to replace the lacking oxygen.

When it explodes, an explosive cloud results in a huge fireball and a huge pressure discharge.

The heat generated by the detonation process is about 3,000 degrees Celsius, which is twice the heat generated by conventional bombs.

The destruction in the targeted area is not limited to the facades of buildings or the roofs, but the rear parts of everything that exists are also destroyed.

Even underground targets such as bunkers, warehouses and tunnels are destroyed.

These fortified targets are often not reached by conventional weapons, but the vacuum bomb hits them.

And because the target ocean empties its oxygen, and because of the high temperature generated by the explosion, all neighborhoods will perish by suffocation and combustion, and buildings will collapse and collapse.

The vacuum bomb is one of the bombs that are prohibited to be used according to international conventions, as are phosphorous bombs, napalm bombs, fission bombs and cluster bombs.

Second, why use?

These weapons are used for a variety of purposes, and come in different sizes.

Heller tells the Guardian that what we may see in Ukraine is that Russia may use them against "bunkers" to destroy the defensive positions of the Ukrainians, and they have very large models of these weapons that can be launched from the air to destroy caves and tunnel complexes.

Third, where has it been used before?

Both Russian and Western forces have used these bombs since the 1960s, as the United States relied on them in its attempts to eliminate al-Qaeda elements in the mountains of Afghanistan.

Russia has a track record of using this type of weapon much more than the West, Hellyer says, and has such weapons of all sizes and systems, from small tactical weapons to massive air-launched bombs.

He adds that "the separatists supported by Russia in the Donbass region have been using such weapons for several years."

In 2000, Human Rights Watch condemned Russia's reported use of these weapons a year earlier in Chechnya, describing it as a "dangerous escalation" with "enormous humanitarian repercussions."

Fourth, how dangerous is it?

Heller says the thermobaric weapons have been effective in achieving their "specific goal" of "essentially destroying defensive positions".

While it is not used to penetrate a tank, it can be a "highly destructive weapon" against an apartment complex or other building.

“Their effects can be very horrific, because of their massive effect of creating a vacuum and sucking air out of the defenders’ lungs,” says Hellyer. He expects to see more of these weapons in the current conflict in Ukraine, explaining that one of the things we know about Russian tactics is that they are on A willingness in wars to destroy everything, and "it is clear that the Ukrainians are moving through underground bunkers... and as this continues the Russians will resort more and more to using whatever weapons they have... including thermal weapons in urban built areas," says Heller.