As of July 29, in 2025, Russia has accidentally bombed itself or areas it occupied over 100 times, according to independent Russian media Astra.
These incidents often stem from failed deployments of wing kits attached to the bombs, causing them to miss their targets in Ukraine and fall short inside Russia.
Astra, in a Tuesday update, said there had been “100 aerial bombs (93 [aerial bombs] FABs and seven [precision guided glide bombs] UMBPs) and three missiles that fell from Russian aircraft in the Russian Federation and in the occupied territories of Ukraine” since the year started.
The media, which documented similar cases as early as 2024, said it recorded five such cases in the past month alone.
“Another five new cases of Russian aerial bombs falling were recorded by Astra based on data from sources since June 26,” the update says.
“Thus, TWO FABs fell in the Belgorod region – a FAB-250 on Pobedy Street in the village of Bogdanovka in the Novooskolsky District and a FAB-500 near a residential building on Kalinina Street in the village of Bershakovo in the Shebekinsky District,” Astra wrote, adding that there were no casualties reported.
The FAB series of general-purpose high-explosive fragmentation aviation bombs was developed in the Soviet Union in the 1950s and modified to be more streamlined and set up for carriage on fighter bombers’ external hard points in the 1960s. The FAB-500 contains around 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of explosive and the FAB-250 has 100 kilograms (220 pounds).
The bombs were originally unguided, with a single nose fuse, and compatible with most models of Soviet aircraft. But since January 2023, they have been modifying many of these “dumb bombs” by strapping on pop-out wings combined with GPS / or the Russian GLONASS guidance systems to use them as long-range glide bombs.
Astra said another two of those five from the past month were dropped in the occupied Donetsk region in Ukraine, one next to a residential building in Debaltseve and another next to a children’s boarding school in Yasynuvata.
Another one was dropped on Vysokoye, a village under Russian occupation in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. Astra did not provide the date and time of the incidents, and Kyiv Post cannot independently verify the reports.
In at least one instance, Russian authorities had framed the accidental bomb drop as a Ukrainian attack, according to Astra.
“The Russian authorities are trying to hide such facts, and when civilians are among those injured by the fall of Russian aerial bombs, they report that the reasons are in the attacks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the update states, with a link to an April report alleging such a case in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine.
Astra said it recorded at least 165 similar accidental bomb drops in 2024.
Between February and May 2024, Russian aviation has reportedly dropped more than 60 FAB aerial bombs and other unidentified munitions on Russian and occupied Ukrainian regions, as Kyiv Post reported at the time, citing data from Astra.
A January 2024 report in a UK Ministry of Defence intelligence update suggested the incidents were likely caused by a combination of inadequate training leading to faulty procedures for arming aircraft prior to flights, poor mission execution by aircrew, and crew fatigue.
In early July this year, Astra also reported a Russian air defense missile booster lodged onto the side wall of an apartment building in Russia’s Belgorod during an alleged Ukrainian drone strike.