Key facts
- Russia has conducted at least 330 friendly-fire incidents involving glide bombs in the last three years.
- UK intelligence attributes these incidents to poor procedures, crew fatigue, and inadequate training.
- Russia has intensified its use of glide bombs in Ukraine, dropping over 100 daily.
- An incident in April 2023 involved a Su-34 mistakenly dropping a bomb on Belgorod.
Russia's air force has experienced a high rate of friendly-fire incidents involving glide bombs, with at least 330 such occurrences reported in the last three years. The UK's Ministry of Defence (MOD) stated that these repeated bombings of its own territories demonstrate a combination of poor procedures, crew fatigue, and inadequate military training. An independent Russian open-source intelligence group, Astra, has documented these incidents, reporting at least 25 glide bombs dropped on Russian-controlled territories so far this year, following 143 incidents in 2025 and 165 in 2024. Russia has significantly increased its daily use of glide bombs in Ukraine, conducting over 200 fighter sorties daily and delivering approximately 180 to 250 glide bombs. Analysts have previously suggested that faulty or poor-quality guidance kits might also contribute to these errors, which have injured civilians in Russian border cities like Belgorod. Russian officials have acknowledged such mistakes in the past, including an incident in April 2023 where a Su-34 mistakenly dropped a bomb on Belgorod.