Extraordinary footage shows the moment a Russian thermobaric rocket launcher was destroyed in a series of fireball explosions on the front line in Ukraine.
Video shows the TOS-1A Buratino, which is equipped with thermobaric warheads, erupting into flames following a Ukrainian strike near Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian weapons system is seen engulfed in a series of fireball explosions and the video shows artillery rockets shooting out of from the burning wreckage.
The Buratino is equipped with thermobaric warheads which spread a flammable liquid around a target and then ignite it. It can destroy several city blocks in one strike and cause indiscriminate damage.
The destruction of the heavy flamethrower system comes as further video shows Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov Battalion storming a Russian trench full of mercenaries from the Wagner private military near Bakhmut and forcing them to retreat during brutal trench warfare.
Video shows the TOS-1A Buratino, which is equipped with thermobaric warheads, erupting into flames following a Ukrainian strike near Vuhledar in eastern Ukraine
The Buratino is equipped with thermobaric warheads which spread a flammable liquid around a target and then ignite it. It can destroy several city blocks in one strike and cause indiscriminate damage (file image)
Russia today claimed its troops had broken through two fortified lines of Ukrainian defences on the eastern front – but Ukrainian forces said Russian forces have not yet been successful in their efforts to punch through their defences.
Russian forces are continuing to suffer heavy defeats on the battlefield – but in an effort to hide these losses, officials in Crimea are burning dead troops in crematoriums ‘around the clock’.
Near the local crematorium in the village of Krasna Zorka, Crimea, there ‘is a constant line of military vehicles numbering up to 10 units’, the Ukrainian armed forces said.
‘The occupiers use these trucks to bring dead Russian servicemen and mercenaries.’
Meanwhile, footage from the trenches near Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, shows heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops.
The video, filmed a soldier from the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, begins by showing a second Ukrainian soldier in the shallow trench as exchanges of gunfire are heard between the Ukrainian and Russian sides.
The images then show the Ukrainian soldier filming the action opening fire on the Russian position, which the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade said was made up of Wagner mercenary soldiers, seen on the left of the screen attempting to advance along the trench.
The Ukrainian soldier filming the action appears to lie down, taking cover behind a mound of dirt next to the trench, with the images on the left of the screen, apparently filmed by a drone above the trench, showing the Russian fighters taking fire before turning around and retreating.
The Ukrainian soldier then shouts ‘Davay, blyad”, which can be loosely translated into English as ‘Let’s f***ing do this!’, before he continues to fire at them.
Meanwhile, footage from the trenches near Bakhmut, eastern Ukraine, shows heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops
The video, filmed a soldier from the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, begins by showing a second Ukrainian soldier in the shallow trench as exchanges of gunfire are heard between the Ukrainian and Russian sides
The Ukrainian soldier then puts down his assault rifle before unpinning a grenade and tossing it towards the Russian soldiers and resuming fire as the footage ends.
Meanwhile, Russia is pouring heavy equipment and mobilised troops into the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine but Ukrainian forces are still defending the region, regional governor Serhiy Haidai said on Wednesday.
Russia said earlier on Wednesday that its troops had broken through two fortified lines of Ukrainian defences on the eastern front.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said Ukrainian forces had retreated in the face of Russian attacks in Luhansk but did not say in which part of the region.
‘There is a lot of shelling, the aviation is already connected. The attacks are coming from different directions in waves,’ Haidai said. ‘We see that they are transferring mobilised people (to the front), we also see that there is more (heavy) equipment.’
But he added: ‘Those who spread the information that allegedly our defence forces have pulled back beyond the line of the administrative border (of Luhansk) — this does not correspond to reality.’
Russian artillery, drones and missiles have been relentlessly pounding Ukrainian-held eastern areas for months, indiscriminately hitting civilian targets and wreaking destruction, as the war largely slowed to a grinding stalemate in the winter.
Moscow is hungry for some battlefield success after months of setbacks.
With the one-year anniversary of Russia’s war approaching, followed by improved spring weather, western officials and analysts say the fighting could be nearing a critical phase when both sides look to launch offensives.
The Kremlin is striving to secure eastern areas it illegally annexed last September – the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions – and where it claims its rule is welcomed.
Pro-Moscow separatists have controlled part of Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk province since 2014.
Ukrainian servicemen fire an RPG as military mobility continues within the Russian-Ukrainian war on February 14 in Donbass, Ukraine
Bohdan, “Fritz”, the deputy of commander of the unit in 79th Air Assault Brigade, fires a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) towards Russian positions on a frontline near the town of Marinka, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on February 14
Ukrainian servicemen load a RPG as military mobility continues within the Russian-Ukrainian war on February 14 in Donbass, Ukraine
A woman stops shovelling snow as a Ukrainian armoured personnel carrier (APC) passes near Chasiv Yar on February 14
“The enemy, trying to take full control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, continues to focus his main efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtarsk areas,” the Ukrainian military reported, referencing towns in the two provinces as well as on the eastern edge of the neighbouring Kharkiv region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said Russia was in a hurry to achieve as much as it can with its latest push before Ukraine and its allies gather strength.
“That is why speed is of the essence,” he said as NATO defence chiefs met in Brussels for talks that continue on Wednesday. “Speed in everything – adopting decisions, carrying out decisions, shipping supplies, training. Speed saves people’s lives.”
Bakhmut’s capture would provide a stepping stone for Russia to advance on two bigger cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk, giving it momentum after months of setbacks ahead of the first anniversary of the invasion on Feb. 24.
“The battles are literally for every foot of Ukrainian land,” Zelenskiy said, describing the conditions on the eastern frontline in his evening address on Tuesday.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said there was fighting “around every single house” in Bakhmut. “The situation remains extremely difficult, but under control of our forces and the front line has not moved,” he said in a YouTube video.
Meanwhile, Ukraine is using shells faster than the West can make them and says it needs fighter jets and long-range missiles to counter the Russian offensive and recapture lost territory.
The United States and NATO have pledged that Western support will not falter in the face of a looming Russian offensive.
Representatives of the 27 European Union countries meet in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss a new batch of sanctions against Russia, which the head of the bloc’s executive said could amount to 11 billion euros ($11.8 bln) in lost trade.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said supplying Ukraine with fighter jets would certainly be discussed but that it was not a focus at the moment, and added he was in favour of raising NATO’s military spending target. British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Western allies could help Ukraine more quickly by supporting their position on the ground rather than focusing on the provision of jets.
Russia, which calls the invasion a “special military operation” to eliminate security threats, said NATO demonstrated its hostility towards Russia every day and was becoming more involved in the conflict. Kyiv and its allies call Russia’s actions an unprovoked land grab.
A Ukrainian serviceman drives a tank along a road outside the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine on February 14
Russia holds swathes of Ukraine’s southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, including its nuclear plant, nearly all of Luhansk and over half of Donetsk. Last year, Russia declared it had annexed the four regions in a move condemned by most United Nations members as illegal.
Russia plans to seize back all the settlements in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region that it surrendered to Kyiv last year, the head of the Russian-installed administration there said on Wednesday.
The upper chamber of Russia’s parliament will hold an extraordinary meeting on Feb. 22 that will focus on adoption of laws on the integration of four regions into the Russian Federation, RIA Novosti reported citing a senior lawmaker.
A U.S.-backed report published on Tuesday said Russia had held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children – likely many more – in camps in Crimea and Russia whose primary purpose appeared to be political re-education. Russia’s embassy in Washington said Russia accepted children who were forced to flee with their families from the shelling in Ukraine.