The Ukrainian military has shared vivid footage of Ukrainian special forces apparently killing ten Russian soldiers in a trench.
Video released on social media by Ukrainian special forces on Monday shows the deaths of several Russian militants in a trench in southern Ukraine. This was announced by the Kiev military.
The Ukrainian soldiers “approached the enemy positions from behind,” the special forces said.
The fighters “surprised the enemy,” the military added on Telegram, saying the footage was taken by one of the soldiers involved in the skirmish. The special forces did not say when the footage was shot, nor did they provide any further information about the location.
Russian soldiers are seen on patrol in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol April 12, 2022. The Ukrainian military has shared graphic footage of Ukrainian special forces apparently killing ten Russian soldiers in a trench. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images
Some reports sharing the footage said that soldiers from Ukraine’s 73rd Maritime Special Operation were involved and that the footage was filmed in the southern Zaporizhia region, where Ukraine is currently engaged in counter-offensive operations.
Newsweek has not been able to independently verify these details or the accuracy of the footage. The Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries have been emailed asking for comment.
The incident came as Ukraine said it had captured an eighth settlement and liberated the village of Pyatikhatky in the Zaporizhia region in its ongoing counteroffensive. Kiev had previously said it had taken control of the nearby village of Lobkove since it launched the first phase of its long-awaited counter-offensive in early June.
WARNING: The video contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing.
General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s top soldier, on Monday shared footage he says showed the takeover of Pyatikhatky by Ukrainian forces. But on Sunday Moscow denied that Kiev was in control of the settlement and said attacks had been “fended off”.
The counteroffensive, which experts say is still in the first reconnaissance and probing phase, focused on the eastern Donetsk region and the annexed Zaporizhia region.
“There has been a multi-directional offensive in the south over the past week,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Monday. Ukraine took control of 113 square kilometers (44 square miles) of territory in southern Ukraine last week, she added.
Several villages have been confiscated in Donetsk, including Blahodatne and Makarivka, Maliar said.
“Ukrainian forces continued their counteroffensive on June 18 on at least four sectors of the front and made limited territorial gains,” the Washington-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Sunday.
However, Kyiv’s forces could “temporarily pause” these counter-offensive efforts, the ISW added, although this would not mean the end of Ukraine’s concerted push against Moscow troops.
Both sides are believed to have suffered heavy casualties since the counteroffensive began, with Russian casualties reaching their highest level since March. according to the British Ministry of Defence.
In the past week, more than 4,600 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded, Maliar wrote on Telegram on Monday. A tally updated by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Monday showed that there were 630 Russian casualties in the past 24 hours.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Ukraine had lost up to 950 soldiers over the past day.
Newsweek cannot independently verify battlefield casualties.