This footage shows Ukrainian soldiers celebrating the National Day of Missile Forces and Artillery with quite a blast – as they shoot rockets and howitzers in a field.

Newsflash obtained the footage from the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, along with a short statement in which they congratulated the holiday: “Happy Day of Rocket Forces and Artillery!”

The Day of Missile Troops and Artillery has been celebrated annually on 3rd November ever since 1997, in honour of Ukrainian Missile Forces and Artillery.

It celebrates the Soviet artillerymen’s contribution towards the liberation of Ukraine during World War II and the important role Ukrainian troops play in defending their country.

The footage apparently shows armed military formations of the Ukrainian Ground Forces doing combat work against Russian invaders in Ukraine.

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 254th day of the war.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 4th November, Russia had lost about 74,840 personnel, 2,750 tanks, 5,580 armoured combat vehicles, 1,772 artillery units, 391 multiple launch rocket systems, 201 air defence systems, 277 warplanes, 258 helicopters, 1,450 drones, 397 cruise missiles, 16 warships, 4,174 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 155 units of special equipment.

Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.

The Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom has claimed that British special forces participated in a drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea fleet, which Moscow has accused Ukraine of carrying out.

Ambassador Andrei Kelin told Sky News: “We perfectly know about [the] participation of British specialists in [the] training, preparation and execution of violence against the Russian infrastructure and the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. We know that it has been done.”

Kelin added: “This is a warning actually that Britain is too deep in this conflict. It means the situation is becoming more and more dangerous.”

Ukraine has said that it believes Russia could be setting a trap by pretending to pull out of the Kherson region.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, said: “This could be a manifestation of a particular provocation, in order to create the impression that the settlements are abandoned, that it is safe to enter them, while they are preparing for street battles.”

Humeniuk added: “We continue fighting, also in the Kherson direction, despite the fact that the enemy is trying to convince us that they are leaving the settlements and creating the effect of a total evacuation.”

The comments come after Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy civilian administrator of the Kherson region, said: “Most likely our units, our soldiers, will leave for the left [eastern] bank” of the Dnieper River.

Lloyd Austin, the US Secretary of Defence, has said that he thinks that Ukrainian military forces can retake Kherson, saying that they were working in an “effective” and “methodical” manner.

Ukraine has said that the forced relocation of Ukrainian citizens in the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia amounts to “war crimes” and “deportations”.

Russia has claimed that 70,000 civilians in Kherson are being “temporarily resettled deep into the Kherson region, as well as to other regions of the Russian Federation.”

Moscow said that this was due to “possible damage to the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station”.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that it has found no sign of undeclared nuclear activity at three locations in Ukraine that it has inspected after Russia claimed that Ukraine was working on a “dirty bomb”.

The IAEA said in a statement: “Our technical and scientific evaluation of the results we have so far did not show any sign of undeclared nuclear activities and materials at these three locations.”

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine – Europe’s largest – has once again been disconnected from the grid after Russian shelling damaged high-voltage lines, meaning that the power plant is currently running on diesel generators, according to Ukrainian nuclear energy company Energoatom.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that 107 Ukrainian military personnel have been freed from Russia in a prisoner-of-war swap, saying that “many of them were wounded, and very seriously”.

President Zelensky also said that he will not attend the G20 summit taking place in Indonesia in two weeks if Vladimir Putin is present.