Russians fired on Sumy region with artillery shells filled with flechettes

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO — MONDAY, 30 MAY 2022, 11:45

The Russian military fired on the border area of Sumy Oblast with artillery shells filled with flechettes.

Source: State Border Guard Service of Ukraine

Details: On the morning of 30 May, the aggressors fired three shots from the Russian village of Tyotkino [Kursk Oblast, Russia] on the border area of the Sumy region.

During one of the shellings, the Russian occupying forces used artillery shells filled with flechettes. Steel rods from Russian shells damaged buildings and property of residents in the Shostka district.

Border guards also recorded three more rounds of shelling of the Sumy region at night: 5 mortar shots from the Russian village of Ponury and 6 from an MLRS from the village of Guyevo.

Invaders’ aircraft carried out 2 air strikes on the territory of the Khotyn Amalgamated Territorial Community (hromada). 

Background: The Russian occupiers killed civilians in Bucha in the Kyiv region with flechettes, which were used mainly during the First World War.

The flechette can be 2.5 to 4 centimetres long. It has a sharp tip and small wings at the end.

When a tank or artillery launches such a shell, it explodes in the air after burning the fuse inside, and the flechettes fly in all directions.