This footage purports to show mobilised Russian citizens undergoing night combat training.
The images reportedly show mobilised Russians training to fire assault rifles at night and learning to use tanks and armoured vehicles.
The images were obtained from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Tuesday, 18th October, along with a statement claiming: “With the crews of tanks and combat reconnaissance vehicles, recruited from among the mobilised military personnel who arrived in the rear area of the special military operation zone, night combat training classes are held.
“The combat training of the mobilised [people] takes place in intensive mode. After working out the standards during the day, the military proceeds to the next stage – night firing.
“The crews of the T-80 tanks work out the firing engagement of the enemy at night, firing from a 125-mm cannon, coaxial and anti-aircraft machine guns. Targets imitating armoured vehicles, grenade launchers and enemy helicopters are located at a distance of up to two kilometres.
“Crews of combat reconnaissance BRM-2AM vehicles fire from a cannon and a machine gun at targets at a distance of 500 to 900 metres.
“In addition, the mobilised work out the standards for night shooting from AK-74 and AK-12 assault rifles from various positions – standing, kneeling, lying down – with and without night vision devices.
“After the completion of the preparation and conduct of combat coordination, the mobilised military personnel will begin to carry out tasks for the control and defence of the liberated territories, as well as actions as part of reserve and reinforcement units.”
We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 237th day of the war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 18th October, Russia had lost about 65,850 personnel, 2,548 tanks, 5,219 armoured combat vehicles, 1,622 artillery units, 372 multiple launch rocket systems, 188 air defence systems, 268 warplanes, 242 helicopters, 1,276 drones, 318 cruise missiles, 16 warships, 3,985 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 144 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
A series of kamikaze drone strikes hit the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Monday, killing four people. The Ukrainian authorities have said that these were Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones.
The United States’ State Department has said that it agrees with the United Kingdom and France that these drones violate UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which bars Iran from transferring certain military technologies abroad.
Iran has so far denied supplying the drones to Russia but US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel has said that the United States has “exposed publicly that Russia has received drones from Iran, that this was part of Russia’s plan to import hundreds of Iranian UAVs of various types.”
Patel also said that there was “extensive proof” of Russia using them in Ukraine.
But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday: “The published news about Iran providing Russia with drones has political ambitions and it is circulated by western sources. We have not provided weaponry to any side of the countries at war.”
Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Denys Shmygal, has said that Russia launched five strikes on Kyiv. He also said that there were attacks against energy infrastructure in Sumy and the central Dnipropetrovsk regions, which deprived power to hundreds of towns.
The Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, has called on the European Union to sanction Iran for providing Russia with the drones that killed the four people in the Ukrainian capital on Monday.
A Russian warplane has crashed in a residential area of the town of Yeysk, in south-western Russia, near the border with Ukraine, according to Russian state-run news agencies, citing the Russian Ministry of Defence.
Ukraine has said that it has exchanged more than 100 prisoners with Russia in what it said was the first all-female swap with the Kremlin since the beginning of Russia’s invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “The more Russian prisoners we have, the sooner we will be able to free our heroes. Every Ukrainian soldier, every frontline commander should remember this.”
The Ukrainian military has said that it is pushing closer to the Russian-occupied city of Kherson, in southern Ukraine.
The European Union has agreed to create a mission to train 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers.
Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian state TV journalist who staged an on-air protest against the war in March, has fled Russia, her lawyer has said.
