US officials eye Russian reliance on unsophisticated but brutal heavy weaponry in Ukraine

Russia has relied far more heavily on less sophisticated, so-called "dumb" bombs than it has on its arsenal of precision-guided munitions in its punishing war on Ukraine. It's a dynamic that US officials are watching closely for clues about the state of Russia's military — as these indiscriminate weapons kill scores of civilians.

Russia has used a combination of missiles, artillery and rocket launchers to pummel major Ukrainian cities over the past two weeks, Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday. On Friday, Russia launched a barrage of missile attacks on a wide range of targets across central and western Ukraine, causing substantial damage and using what Russia's defense ministry said were "high-precision long-range weapons."

But the number of "precision-guided munitions that are being dropped from aircraft ... is small," Berrier said.