This footage shows a coolheaded Ukrainian soldier casually waving up at a friendly drone during a tense firefight with Russian troops.
The images begin by showing Russian soldiers on their stomachs in some undergrowth but they are spotted by a Ukrainian drone that drops bombs on them. Ukrainian soldiers can also be seen throwing grenades from a dugout.
Eventually, most of the Russian soldiers appear to have been taken out, with one of them seen crawling away. That is when one of the Ukrainian soldiers in the dugout casually looks up at the friendly drone and waves while smoking a cigarette.
A final explosion appears to take out one of the remaining Russian soldiers. The soldier can be seen severely injured and apparently dying as the footage ends.
The images were obtained from the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces on Friday, 21st October, along with a statement saying: “The enemy tells how he ‘does not abandon his own’?
“We can watch how they climb over the corpses of their ‘friends’ to become the same. No one takes them away and will not take them away. And our boys, as always, stand and will advance to the borders, ‘for the beginning of 1991.'”
The images were also relayed by the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 240th day of the war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 21st October, Russia had lost about 66,750 personnel, 2,573 tanks, 5,258 armoured combat vehicles, 1,648 artillery units, 372 multiple launch rocket systems, 189 air defence systems, 269 warplanes, 243 helicopters, 1,325 drones, 329 cruise missiles, 16 warships, 4,006 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 147 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
The White House has said that Iran has increased its involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by giving technical support to Russian forces operating Iranian-made drones to bomb civilian targets.
John Kirby, of the White House’s National Security Council, said on Thursday that Iranian advisers were in Crimea to provide the Russian military with training and maintenance.
The United Kingdom is applying new sanctions to three Iranian individuals and to a business for supplying Russia with drones to attack Ukraine.
The UK Foreign Office said in a statement that by providing drones to Russia, Iran is “actively warmongering, profiting off Russia’s abhorrent attacks on Ukrainian citizens, and adding to the suffering of the people and the destruction of critical infrastructure.”
The European Union agreed to apply sanctions against the same business and the three individuals shortly before the United Kingdom’s announcement.
Iran has denied supplying drones to Moscow and the Kremlin has accused the West of trying to put “pressure” on Iran.
British intelligence has said that Russia’s recent admission that a “difficult situation has emerged” in the Kherson region shows that the Russian authorities could be considering withdrawing their forces from the area west of the Dnipro River.
Ukraine has begun restricting electricity supplies across the country, beginning at 7am on Thursday. Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has said that over 300 attacks by Russia had destroyed a third of all power plants across Ukraine.
President Zelensky said that citizens need to prepare for “rolling blackouts”.
The UK Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, has revealed that a Russian aircraft released a missile near a British plane that was patrolling over the Black Sea, in international airspace, on 29th September.
Wallace told the House of Commons that the Russians had attributed the incident to a “technical malfunction”.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is using energy and hunger as weapons but he added that he has failed to break the West’s unity and will not achieve his war aims through scorched earth tactics.
Scholz told the German Parliament: “We will not let Moscow’s latest escalation go unanswered. Scorched earth tactics will not help Russia win the war. They will only strengthen the unity and resolve of Ukraine and its partners.”
NATO‘s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that the members will take action if Sweden or Finland come under pressure from Russia or another adversary before they have fully joined the alliance.
