Ukraine Just Unleashed “THE LEVELER”… It Completely LEVELED Russian Lines

The Military Show

Ukraine has unveiled a powerful new homemade guided bomb that could reshape the battlefield. The Leveler has entered combat with a devastating first strike, delivering precision attacks against Russian frontline positions while costing a fraction of Western alternatives. Is this the weapon that finally gives Ukraine parity in the glide bomb war? Watch as we break down the technology, the footage, and why this breakthrough could mark a major turning point in the conflict.  ⏱️ CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Ukraine Leveler Glide Bomb Strikes Russian Trenches 02:32 - Ukraine Glide Bomb Development From 2024 to 2026 04:43 - Ukraine Leveler Glide Bomb Features 130km Range 07:24 - Ukraine Leveler Bomb Costs 1/3 of US JDAM 09:33 - Russia Planned 75,000 Glide Bomb Strikes in 2026 12:11 - Will Ukraine Middle Strikes Stop Putin Donbas Offensive?  Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join  #militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis #themilitaryshow  SOURCES / ATTRIBUTIONS: https://pastebin.com/kZPVekpL

Transcript

00:00Ukraine's geniuses have been tinkering away, and what they've come up with is a homemade weapon

00:05that isn't just lethal, it's a potential game-changer. This strange new bomb has been

00:11in development for over a year, now it's finally here, and Russia just felt the full force.

00:18The Varyvnyuvach has its first strike, and that's the last time I'm going to pronounce that.

00:22Ukraine has unleashed its leveller on Russia, and it did exactly what it says on the tin.

00:27It completely levelled the Russian lines. On June 24th, United24 media provided the basics of the

00:34strike. It reported that a newly developed Ukrainian bomb, which has been dubbed both the leveller and

00:40the equaliser due to it being a weapon that will finally bring parity to a key aspect of the war,

00:45has been unleashed. Two of the bombs were launched from a MiG-29 fighter jet to strike a Russian

00:51frontline position. Both were kitted out with special wing correction kits that level the bombs out,

00:56lending a second dimension to the name. And this terrifying twosome impacted Russian defensive

01:01trenches, leaving massive craters in their wake. And we don't just have a written report making

01:07these claims, there's footage of the strike. Shared by Militanyi, though published first by the

01:12Sonja Shnik Sunflower Telegram channel, the video only lasts for 18 seconds, but that was more than long

01:18enough. The footage starts with a still shot of the trenches being targeted, presumably filmed by

01:23Ukrainian reconnaissance drone hovering overhead. There are a few seconds of calm. The Russian

01:29soldiers inside those trenches would have been going about their work, perhaps preparing for yet

01:33another frontline assault. Fear would have already been in the air. Climbing over the trenches inevitably

01:38means blindly running into Ukraine's drone-infested kill zones, where you're more likely to be cut

01:43down than not. But this time, something worse was coming for the unsuspecting soldiers.

01:48The first leveler was on its way, and it lands on the three-second mark. Another leveler follows up

01:55just a couple of seconds later, with both causing large explosions that lead to smoke billowing into

01:59the air. The Russian trenches are blanketed. We don't see the aftermath. The footage ends on a

02:05still shot of the smoke, but the aftermath matters less than what this video really shows us.

02:10One of Ukraine's most lethal new weapons is in play, and crucially, is offering the levels of

02:16precision that Ukraine needs it to offer for it to become one of the most effective tools that

02:20Ukraine has for shattering the frontline and destroying the near-rear that supplies the

02:24soldiers that Putin sends to the front. This footage should terrify Putin as much as experiencing

02:29it would have horrified the Russian soldiers caught up in the blast. But for Ukraine, this first strike

02:34has been a long time coming. The leveler is, essentially, Ukraine's version of the guided bombs that

02:40Russia has been using to pelt Ukraine's cities for years. And if we're being honest,

02:44it's taken far longer than Ukraine would have wanted to reach the battlefield.

02:48It was way back in June 2024 that the Chief of the Aviation Force Command of the Armed Forces of

02:54Ukraine, Serhii Golubsov, announced that Ukraine was preparing a test domestic version of the cab

02:59bombs that Russia had started to use a few months before. The first of those tests was scheduled to

03:04begin in a few weeks, Golubsov said at the time, with the goal being to develop aviation kits for the

03:09Soviet-era bombs in Ukraine's possession that would provide a high level of accuracy and increased flight

03:15range compared to the bombs that Russia was using. The promise was there. Ukraine has a huge stockpile of the

03:20bombs that Russia stored on its territory during the days of the Soviet Union, so it has plenty to turn

03:25into

03:25guided weapons that can wreak havoc across and behind the Russian front. But after the claims of incoming tests

03:31surfaced, things went quiet for a few months. It wasn't until September 2024 that the Combat Aviation

03:37of Ukraine Telegram channel published a video that appeared to show a Ukrainian Su-24 bomber

03:43being used to test an early version of the weapon that would come to be known as the Leveller.

03:49That footage showed some early promise. The guided bomb was undocked successfully,

03:53and the footage offered some early insight into how the bomb kit was being designed.

03:57We saw folded wings and a rounded fairing on the nose to improve the bomb's aerodynamic qualities.

04:02Then, everything went quiet for almost two years. For whatever reason, Ukraine hasn't been forthcoming

04:08with an explanation. It took until 2026 for the bomb that has become the Leveller to truly emerge.

04:13We can speculate about why Ukraine took so long to bring the bomb from concept to combat. Perhaps

04:19Ukraine needed to work on the range, allowing its fighter jets to launch from deep enough behind the

04:23lines to face no threat from Russian air defenses. Or maybe Ukraine decided that focusing on the

04:28development of drones was a priority, especially as it was receiving JDAM and Asom Hammer kits from

04:33the West that could serve a similar function to its new bomb. Whatever the case may have been,

04:38the Leveller took its time getting here. But it's here now, and Ukraine will be delighted to see its

04:43first successful use. What Ukraine now has on its hands is the perfect foil for the UMPK kits that Russia

04:50has been using to transform its own dumb bombs into semi-guided weapons that can cause serious

04:54amounts of destruction. Those Russian kits can be attached to Russia's FAB 250 and FAB 500 general

05:01purpose air-dropped munitions, and they allow Russia to strike targets several dozen kilometers

05:06behind the front lines. The Leveller could be mistaken for a clone of these types of kits,

05:11but it's so much more than that. Though inspired by the UMPK kits, the Leveller builds on everything that

05:16Russia came up with and innovates in ways that Putin's patsies would never have thought to do.

05:21After the Leveller was unveiled at the Eurosatory 2026 exhibition in Paris,

05:26a few details about what Ukraine has developed started to leak out.

05:29The bomb kits enable a dumb bomb to be launched at altitudes ranging from 500 to over 10,000 meters,

05:36Pravda reports. It also has a higher range than most similar kits that Russia has produced,

05:40as the Leveller can strike targets located between 10 and 130 kilometers away from the aerial platform

05:47that launches it. We also note that the kit can be attached to bombs weighing 250 kilograms,

05:52though it isn't yet clear if Ukraine intends to further develop the technology

05:55so that it can be used for larger or smaller bombs. Business Insider provided a few more details about

06:01the bomb in its report, noting that it can be launched from Ukraine's Soviet-era platforms,

06:06bombs, as we saw from the early tests and the fact that Ukraine used a MiG-29 for its first

06:10strike,

06:11and that it is compatible with the F-16s and Mirage fighter jets that Ukraine has at its disposal.

06:17That compatibility doesn't mean that we'll be seeing the Leveller dropping from the wings of

06:20those jets immediately. The Leveller needs additional certification for both before it can be used,

06:26though that seems to be a problem that can be solved relatively easily.

06:29But perhaps the biggest difference between Ukraine's bomb kit and the ones made by Russia

06:33is that the Leveller has also been loaded with modern guidance algorithms that provide increased

06:39accuracy beyond the satellite navigation that is likely used for the bombs. This suggests that AI

06:44is in use somewhere along the line. If the first full strike carried out with the bombs is any

06:49indication, that algorithm is doing exactly what it's designed to do. Russia's good enough

06:54approach has worked for its glide bombs. As long as those weapons hit something, even if they're

06:58hundreds of meters off target, that's good enough for Putin. Ukraine wants precision to the

07:03point where it can hit a narrow trench dozens of kilometers away. The Leveller provides that

07:08precision. And as Militanyi points out, the version of the bomb kit that we've just seen used on the

07:13Russian trenches is likely from an experimental batch that was delivered to the Ukrainian Air Force in

07:18May. Future batches will have any kinks ironed out and will be even more accurate than the ones we've

07:23seen in the footage. And finally, there's the big reason why Ukraine really wants to get the Leveller

07:28into mass production as soon as possible. The price tag. You may remember we mentioned that

07:34one of the possible reasons for Ukraine taking so long to take the Leveller from testing, the

07:38practical use, was that it had stockpiles of Western bomb kits, such as the US-made JDAM, that

07:44it could use instead. The JDAM is certainly effective. In fact, it's one of the world's best

07:48examples of these types of guided bomb kits. However, it also comes with a complication of a relatively

07:54high price tag, especially now that Ukraine has to purchase US-made weapons via the Pearl Initiative

07:59rather than receiving them as military aid. The Leveller solves this particular problem.

08:05According to a May 19 Militanyi report, Ukraine's new guided bomb kit costs about a third of the

08:10price of a JDAM kit. That's huge for Ukraine. It means that it gets three guided bombs for the

08:15price of one that it might receive from a key Western ally. Triple the firepower results in triple

08:20the damage, and that is bad news for Russia's forces. They'll never know when they're clear

08:25of a guided bomb strike because there will always be a possibility that Ukraine could follow up with

08:29more due to their version of the glide bomb being cheaper to build than any version that they can buy.

08:33And the level of being Ukraine's version of a guided bomb is massive too. Ukraine has had something of

08:39a rollercoaster relationship with the US since Donald Trump became president, even having to deal with

08:43the US halting all aid deliveries at one point. The relationship is much better now. Trump even told

08:49Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he admired how Ukraine is handling itself during the

08:542026 G7 meeting. Still, the concern over access to US weapons, along with the strings that can be

09:00attached to them, will always be in Ukraine's collective mind. The Leveller comes with no

09:05strings attached in terms of how Ukraine uses it, and Ukraine can have as many as it can build.

09:11What we see in this weapon and the first recorded combat use of the Leveller is that Ukraine has just

09:16levelled up its campaign against Russia. We know that's terrible, but it's also true.

09:21This guided bomb kit has the potential to be a game-changer for Ukraine, and there are two reasons

09:25why. But before we get to them, this is a reminder that you're watching the military show. If you're

09:30getting insight from the channel, hit subscribe to make sure that you see what we have coming next.

09:34So first up, there's what the Leveller represents to Ukraine,

09:37the levelling of the playing field when it comes to guided bombs.

09:41Achieving parity with Russia in the glide bomb aspect of the war is massive for Ukraine,

09:46and it's one of the reasons why the Leveller is also known as the Equalizer.

09:50But to understand more, we need to explore how Russia has been using its glide bombs against

09:54Ukraine. Sheer volume has been key for Russia. In April, Russia launched almost 7,000 guided

10:00aerial munitions against Ukraine, which followed on from a March total of 7,987. That was a monthly

10:07record for the entire war, as Russia launched 1,500 more glide bombs than it did to set its

10:13previous record in February. And according to Russia Matters, it seems likely that Russia will

10:17end 2026 having launched around 75,000 guided bombs at Ukraine, which is a 25% increase over

10:24the 60,000 launched in 2025. The point here is that Russia knows how dangerous these types of bombs are,

10:31and frankly, having this glide bomb advantage has been one of the few bright spots for Putin in his

10:36campaign to subjugate Ukraine. Precision isn't the goal with these bombs, which can weigh up to 1,500

10:42kilograms. For Russia, it's all about damage. Clouding the skies with glide bombs allows Russia

10:47to hit targets all over Ukraine, including the cities that Ukraine has fortified. And even cities

10:52that Russia has yet to reach are still home to thousands of civilians. We don't have exact numbers

10:57on how many Ukrainian civilians Russia's glide bombs have killed. The United Nations has verified

11:0316,126 Ukrainian civilian deaths as of May 31st, and many of those deaths would have been caused by

11:10Russian glide bombs. Ukraine has come up with ways to counter these bombs, which it has had to do over

11:15and over as Russia tweaks them. On April 3rd, for instance, Forbes reported that Ukraine had come up

11:20with a new type of jammer that makes many of Russia's glide bombs useless. The effectiveness of the

11:24cabs dropped to zero, a spokesperson for the developers of this new jamming system named the

11:29Lima Quant told Forbes before adding, On a roughly 700-kilometer stretch of the front,

11:34the enemy dropped 869 cabs in one of the previous months. The consequences of these strikes were minor

11:40injuries to eight servicemen. Still, countering Russia's guided bombs is one thing. Being able to

11:46deliver the same devastation back to Russia using bomb kits that have,

11:49made in Ukraine, stamped on them is quite another. As Ukraine moves the leveler into mass production,

11:55it will develop thousands of its own guided bombs to turn the tables on Russia.

11:59Only there'll be a difference. Russia targets cities with its glide bombs, Ukraine won't do that.

12:04Precision was always the key to the leveler, and now that we know that the bomb is accurate,

12:08Ukraine is likely going to use this weapon to build on something that is already crippling Russia

12:12on the front, the middle strike campaign. That campaign is the second reason why the emergence

12:18of the leveler is a potential game-changer. It's also far and away the most important.

12:23Achieving parity with Russia is great on a symbolic level, but having a bomb that feeds into a campaign

12:28that is already extremely effective is vital. Up until this point, Ukraine's 2026 middle strike

12:33campaign has mostly centered around its use of a new generation of drones that can hit a couple of

12:39hundred kilometers behind the front lines, and it's been extremely effective. Ukraine's drones have been

12:44targeting the logistical arteries that feed into Crimea in particular, as Ukraine looks to isolate

12:49the peninsula and make it unviable for Putin as a strategic option. But beyond that, Ukraine has

12:55been striking targets in the Russian near-rear with drones and Western-made weapons for well over a year,

13:00the Kyiv Independent reports. Among the targets have been supply and fuel trucks, air defense systems,

13:06ammunition depots, drone launch sites, and the command and control centers that Russia relies on to

13:11organize its troops on the front. The big difference between now and a year ago is that Ukraine's

13:16middle strike campaign has ramped up to a level that Russia never expected. Photographs shared by

13:21Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty showcase just a small amount of damage as we see the shattered and

13:26burnt-out husks of vehicles and fires at key oil depots. Ukraine has figured out that crippling Russian

13:31logistics in the rear severely damages Russia's attempts to launch assaults along the front. A lot has been

13:38said about the new generation of drones that has made this middle strike campaign possible. The Hornet has

13:43been the headline-maker. AI-enabled and developed by a US company, the Hornet is able to identify targets

13:49automatically, and it's cheap enough for Ukraine to use dozens of them every single day. Other standouts

13:54include the new Behemoth drone, which can hit targets at a range of 300 kilometers with a 75-kilogram tandem

14:01warhead that combines a penetrator with a thermobaric charge, making it ideal for dealing with fortified targets.

14:07The secretive Morrigan drone is another. Business Insider reports that this drone has been key

14:12to Ukraine turning the R280 road that connects Russia, Crimea, and the occupied regions of southern

14:17Ukraine into an absolute hellscape for Russian vehicles. These, along with other middle strike

14:23drones, have played a huge role in shifting the momentum of the war into Ukraine's favor.

14:28Beyond the campaign to isolate Crimea, Ukraine's middle strikes have so weakened Russia on the front

14:33that Ukraine is actively making gains while completely stifling the grand summer offensive

14:38that Putin believed was going to deliver the Donbass region by September. That already isn't

14:43going to come closer to happening. Now imagine the leveller being added to all of this. On top of all

14:48the drones, which Russia is already finding it difficult to stop, forces in the rear now have

14:52to deal with powerful glide bombs that can deliver far more firepower than most of the middle strike

14:57drones. There is great potential for levellers to be made in the thousands, allowing Ukraine to pelt

15:03Russian positions over and over. We envision the development of a layered campaign. The FPV

15:08drone-infested kill zones on the front lines kill Russian soldiers by the thousands. Behind them,

15:13levellers are deployed to destroy trenches, command posts, and other facilities, also causing casualties

15:18and forcing exposed survivors to try their luck in the kill zones long before they're ready. And behind

15:23that, deeper in the Russian rear, middle strike drones take out supply trucks and other Russian

15:28targets, destroying the logistics that are supposed to be supporting the troops that are now being hit

15:33with FPV drones and levellers. That's one potential future that Russia now faces, and it's a future

15:38that Putin doesn't even want to imagine. The leveller is officially here, and it's already proven that it

15:44lives up to its name with its first recorded combat deployment. Ukraine's homemade weapon changes

15:49everything. The next step is to move it into mass production on a scale that will make Russian

15:54soldiers too terrified to even consider approaching the front. With the leveller, Ukraine has showcased

15:59its ability to build on existing concepts with innovation of its own. And that's precisely what

16:04it's been doing with a British weapon that is making a remarkable comeback. Mach 3 murder pencils are now

16:10taking flight in Ukraine. If they sound crazy, you need to watch our video to find out what they are

16:15and how

16:16Ukraine is using them. And if you enjoyed this video, hit subscribe and be on the lookout for

16:20more of our daily videos covering Ukraine's latest weapons, new developments in the war, and so much

16:25more. And thank you, as always, for watching.

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended