Watch As A Russian ‘Flamethrower’ Launcher Opens Fire—And Ukrainian Guns Shoot Back A Minute Later

A dramatic duel between a Russian “flamethrowing” rocket launcher and Ukrainian artillery somewhere in eastern Ukraine recently underscores a brutal truth about the fighting along that front, 100 days into Russia’s wider war on Ukraine.

It’s an artillery fight. Big guns and rocket-launchers shooting at enemy troops while the enemy’s own big guns shoot back. Whoever shoots more, farther and faster should have the upper hand.

The duel played out during a video shoot by Russian propagandists. The video’s host stood next to a TOS-1 thermobaric rocket launcher, bragging about the “demoralizing” effect of the 220-millimeter-diameter rockets.

The TOS-1 is one of the more terrifying weapons in the Russian arsenal. Thermobaric munitions burst over their targets, spreading a fuel vapor before exploding and igniting the fuel—and creating a pressure wave that’s twice as powerful as that…