'Epic Detonation' of Russian Grad System Hints at GLSDBs' Ukraine Arrival

New footage circulating online appears to show Ukrainian-operated U.S. bombs taking out Russian artillery pieces in a hotspot of clashes between Moscow and Ukraine, indicating that new, long-awaited weapons have arrived in Ukraine.

Open-source intelligence and war tracking accounts shared a brief clip purportedly showing what one described as the "epic detonation" of two Russian BM-21 Grad self-propelled multiple rocket launchers near the Moscow-controlled Luhansk city of Kreminna.

The footage prompted speculation that Kyiv may have received United States-supplied Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDBs). The weapons, able to strike up to 90 miles away, had been expected to arrive in Ukraine any day now.

A Pentagon spokesperson told Newsweek on Thursday that the Defense Department defers to Kyiv to announce when they receive any new capabilities "in order to preserve the tactical advantage it provides on the battlefield."

Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder told the media in late January that the Defense Department was working with industry "to ensure that Ukraine receives and is ready to use the capabilities that we're delivering to them and as quickly as possible."

Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian military and the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

The GLSDB, a joint venture between Boeing and Swedish manufacturer Saab, will supplement the arsenal of long-range precision weapons Kyiv can use to strike at a relatively low cost.

The GLSDB has a shorter range than the ground-launched ATACMS, or Army Tactical Missile System that Ukraine dramatically debuted in October 2023 and the air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missile Kyiv has repeatedly used to target Russian assets in Crimea. But they are a cheaper way to increase Ukraine's long-range strike capabilities, offering more resources for a Ukraine fast approaching two years of all-out war with a diminishing stockpile of long-range weapons.

If confirmed, the arrival of the GLSDB comes as Kyiv stares down Russian assaults along several parts of the frontline, including west of Kreminna and around the devastated Donetsk city of Avdiivka, after Ukraine's stalled summer and fall counteroffensive.

On Wednesday, a Russian military blogger claimed Ukraine had used HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, to fire a GLSDB near Kreminna on Tuesday.

Kreminna sits in Russian-controlled territory and was the first major Donbas city captured by Russia in the early weeks of its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Geolocated footage from Tuesday indicates Russia advanced west of Kreminna, close to the settlement of Terny, the Institute for the Study of War said on Wednesday.

Russia has previously condemned the possible transfer of GLSDBs, saying it would be an "extremely dangerous" escalation of the war.

Update 2/15/24, 10:06 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a response from the Pentagon.