Intense combat footage appearing to show Ukrainian soldiers storming Russian positions in the forest near Kreminna has emerged.
The extremely graphic video – which Daily Express US has edited to obscure the death of at least one Russian soldier – appears to show a Ukrainian unit attacking positions in the forests near Kreminna in north-eastern Ukraine.
The unverified and undated footage was widely shared on social media and appears to show a Ukrainian soldier throwing a grenade into a Russian soldier’s foxhole.
The unit then storms forward while firing and clears the area – at least one Russian soldier was clearly killed at point-blank range during the assault.
The footage shows the brutal close-quarter fighting conditions Ukraine is facing as it presses a counterattack in the south and east of the country.
In Kreminna, where the video was purportedly taken, Russia has launched its own counteroffensive which has made limited gains after being met by fierce Ukrainian resistance.
The forest is not far from the embattled city of Bakmut, which Russian forces captured earlier this summer. Now Ukraine constantly shells Moscow’s positions there while attempting to encircle the city.
“Russian forces continued offensive operations along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line, near Bakhmut, along the Avdiivka-Donetsk City line and unsuccessfully counterattacked in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area and in western Zaporizhia Oblast on August 31,” the think-tank Critical Threats said in a recent update on the eastern front.
Elsewhere, Ukraine was making “notable gains” in the south of the country, according to a top US official.
White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Ukraine had “achieved some success against that second line of Russian defences”.
Kyiv’s forces recently took control of the tactically important village of Robotyne and have been seen penetrating several miles behind Russian defences towards Verbove.
Ukraine’s goal is to break through to the Sea of Azov driving a wedge between Russian forces in Ukraine and cutting off the land bridge to occupied Crimea.
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