Video Reveals Daring Night Attack on Russian Troops Behind Enemy Lines

A Ukrainian brigade carried out a nighttime attack on Russian troops behind enemy lines, a video appears to show.

The footage, published by Ukraine's Azov Regiment on Telegram, is filmed using a night vision camera operated by a soldier of its 12th Special Forces Brigade who seemingly kills multiple Russian soldiers at close range in the daring attack.

The group "carried out a raid into the enemy's rear," the brigade wrote in a caption accompanying the clip. "The video shows unique footage of the invaders being eliminated in close combat."

Warning: The video contains footage some people may find upsetting.

It is not clear when or where the footage was filmed. Newsweek has contacted Russia's Defense Ministry for comment by email.

Kyiv's military said in an update on Monday that Russia had lost 1,290 troops in a single day—Moscow's biggest reported loss of the year.

As part of its daily update on the war, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces posts figures on Russia's troop and equipment losses. It said Moscow had lost 1,290 soldiers over the past 24 hours, according to the military's latest casualty toll of Russian troops—bringing the total to 403,720.

Russia has also lost a total of 6,498 tanks, 12,232 armored combat vehicles, 9,733 artillery systems, and 336 military jets in the ongoing war, the update said. Newsweek couldn't independently verify Kyiv's figures.

Estimates of casualty numbers vary, with Ukraine's figures usually exceeding those of its Western allies. Moscow rarely shares information on the number of casualties it has sustained in the war.

In September 2022, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,937 of Moscow's troops had been killed since the war began. The defense ministry has since reported casualty numbers a further three times, confirming the loss of another 162 troops, the BBC's Russian Service reported.

Like Moscow, Kyiv does not provide updated information on its war casualties. A U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency assessment leaked in April 2023 said that Ukraine had suffered 124,500 to 131,000 casualties, which includes 15,500 to 17,500 dead.

Shoigu said in December 2023 that Ukraine has lost more than 383,000 troops since the war began. Newsweek could not independently verify the figures.

The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank, said in its latest analysis of the conflict in Ukraine on Sunday that Moscow's forces are currently conducting at least three offensive efforts, including near the key village of Robotyne in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, where Kyiv said it thwarted a wave of Russian attacks.

On Sunday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces Center for Strategic Communications, said in a post on Telegram that Russian troops had "unsuccessfully tried 10 times" to attack the positions of its forces in Robotyne.

Elsewhere, in the embattled fortress town of Avdiivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region, Kyiv said its forces had withdrawn after months of fighting. Russia has said it has taken full control of the area.

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