New footage appears to show a Russian soldier fending off a Ukrainian drone attack with a shovel, as Kyiv and Moscow battle it out to pull ahead in the drone race in their ongoing war.
A brief clip, widely circulated online and shared by pro-Ukrainian accounts, including military observer Yuriy Butusov, looks to show a drone careening toward a Russian fighter in a trench in an unspecified area of Ukraine.
A separate feed from an airborne drone appears to show the soldier batting away the drone with a shovel, before the uncrewed aerial vehicle explodes. A later shot shows a soldier lying motionless, but it is not clear if it is the same fighter and whether he was killed by the explosive drone.
Vlada Liberova/Libkos/Getty Images
Newsweek could not independently verify the footage and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
Since February 24, 2022, when Russia launched its invasion, Ukraine has spent the many months amassing its “drone army,” constantly developing new airborne vehicles and fundraising for more. The drones cover nearly every aspect of the fighting, from helping out with reconnaissance to suicide drone strikes and guiding artillery fire.
The footage was attributed to drone pilots with a battalion in Ukraine’s 54th Separate Mechanized Brigade that was deployed around the eastern city of Kupiansk, close to the frontlines and in the east of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
Footage posted to social media throughout the war appears to show Russian soldiers using improvised weapons to defend against Ukrainian drones. In late April, a video circulated online purported shows a Russian soldier using a shovel to fight off an explosive drone operated by Ukraine’s 82nd Separate Air Assault Brigade.
Ukraine has used drones to target infantry, armored vehicles and Russian tanks, as well as sites farther from the battlefield, such as Russian oil refineries deep within internationally recognized Russian territory.
In new analysis shared exclusively with Newsweek, non-governmental organization Global Witness suggested that several of the oil refineries targeted by Ukraine have contributed to Russia’s ability to sustain its war machine. The facilities, therefore, are legitimate military targets for Ukraine, the organization argued.
Olha Stefanishyna, a Ukrainian deputy prime minister, previously said the oil refineries are considered legitimate military targets by Ukraine.
In March, the Financial Times reported that the U.S. had pushed Ukraine to stop its attacks on Russia’s oil refineries for fear of spikes in global oil prices and the risk of Russian retaliation.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
