Video Reveals Single Ukrainian Soldier Holding Off 10 Russians

Ukraine's military has released video footage that it says shows one of its soldiers managing to hold off the attacks of 10 Russian troops, whose commander shouts angrily at them for not pressing home their numerical advantage.

The clip posted on the Telegram channel of Ukraine's 8th Separate Mountain Assault Battalion of the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade, also known as Edelweiss, lasts around 100 seconds. It shows a Russian commander getting more and more exasperated at his troops' inability to get the Ukrainian soldier. Newsweek has emailed the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.

Intercepted communications show the Russian commander trying to control the situation. The Ukrainian solder continues firing and throwing grenades at Russian troops as drones buzz overhead in a standoff in December. Newsweek has been unable as yet to verify the details of the video.

"Someone should come from the left and f****** finish him off," the Russian commander is heard saying. "Throw grenades at him," he adds, in the clip shared on the pro-Ukrainian X channel of War Translated. As of Saturday afternoon, it had received more than 280,000 views.

Drone footage shows smoke rising and the Russian troops crawling around the trench trying to get the Ukrainian soldier as their commander shouts: "One guy is holding you off! One! There are 10 of you!"

The Ukrainian brigade's Telegram post said that the battle ended with dead and injured Russian troops, who were methodically destroyed by artillery and drones. "Our soldier remained alive and well" after "cold-bloodedly repelling the attack of ten occupiers," the brigade said. "He forced what was left of the enemy to flee, defending his position and waiting for reinforcements," the post published on Saturday added, according to a translation from the original Ukrainian.

The brigade posted the video on the second anniversary of Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion. "Today marks exactly two years of our tireless and courageous struggle against the sworn enemy not only for freedom and the right to self-determination, but for the right to life," the brigade said. "This episode is only one out of a hundred, or perhaps a thousand proofs of that."

To mark the anniversary, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address that "any normal person wants the war to end. But none of us will allow our Ukraine to end."

On Saturday, Zelensky met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the site of the 2022 battle for Hostomel Airport in Kyiv Oblast.