New footage appears to show Ukrainian forces destroying several Russian armored vehicles in the east of the war-torn country, as Moscow bears down on Ukrainian positions across the frontlines.
The clip, shared by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry on Wednesday, appears to show an airborne drone filming a column of Russian armored vehicles moving through the Ukrainian countryside. The video looks to show the vehicles attempting to change direction, and soldiers evacuating the convoy. Smoke is visible from some of the vehicles, with a final shot showing a vehicle in flames. The vehicles became "scrap metal," Kyiv said in a post to social media.
Kyiv gave no indication of when and where the footage was filmed, and it is not possible to independently verify the clip. Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian military and Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
The video was attributed to Ukraine's Shadow unit, specialized in the use of drones and artillery. In a post to Telegram on Tuesday, the unit wrote: "Another 'successful' Russian assault on Novomykhailivka."
The village of Novomykhailivka sits on the current frontlines in eastern Ukraine, southwest of the Russian-controlled regional capital, Donetsk City, and northeast of the ruined town of Vuhledar. Vuhledar was the site of bitter fighting in 2023, and Western intelligence suggested Russia lost a slew of armored vehicles around the village in early 2023.
Geolocated footage from Tuesday shows that Russia advanced south of Novomykhailivka, according to a U.S. think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
A mystery of russian assaults: a group of armored vehicles goes in one direction but later turns into scrap metal. And no one returns.
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) March 6, 2024
📹: Shadow Unit pic.twitter.com/Se97EuI6Wg
The Ukrainian military said on Wednesday that Russia had attempted to break through Kyiv's defensive lines around Novomykhailivka 39 times in the previous 24 hours. Moscow attacked around Novomykhailivka and the neighboring villages of Heorhiivka and Krasnohorivka, Kyiv said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that it fired on Ukrainian positions around Vuhledar, taking out two Ukrainian tanks in the area.
Attacks in this southern part of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region came as Russia presses Ukrainian defenses west of the captured strategic city of Avdiivka. Ukraine withdrew from the former stronghold in mid-February.
In the weeks since Ukrainian forces retreated from Avdiivka, Ukraine's military has said it has pulled back from a handful of villages west of the city, including Stepove, Lastochkyne and Sieverne. Seizing these settlements helps consolidate Russian positions around Avdiivka, the U.K. government assessed last week.
Russia has simultaneously launched what the ISW think tank termed a "cohesive multi-axis offensive operation" in northeastern Ukraine, close to the Russian-controlled cities of Svatove and Kreminna, as well as the Ukrainian-held railway hub of Kupiansk.
Russia is "having some success" in this sector of the frontline, the commander of the 13th Brigade of Ukraine's National Guard told Newsweek last week.
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Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
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