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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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A new video appears to show a Russian soldier attempting to use a rocket launcher, before the weapon backfires and strikes a fellow fighter.
In an undated clip posted online, what looks to be two Russian soldiers move through the battlefield, filmed by a Ukrainian airborne drone. One of the troops appears to fire a rocket launcher, but accidentally hits the soldier stood close behind.
The footage is attributed to a battalion of the country's 5th Separate Assault Brigade, but Newsweek could not independently verify the video.
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The Ukrainian military and Russian Defense Ministry have been contacted for comment via email.
Western analysts have said that many of Russia's soldiers joined the Kremlin's forces following the country's "partial mobilization" in the fall of 2022 but have had scant formal training. Moscow sustained heavy personnel and equipment losses in the early stages of the invasion effort from February 2022, losing key expertise and a slew of modern equipment.
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In mid-May 2023, the British Defense Ministry said many Russian units had been replenished by "poorly trained" mobilized reservists who were increasingly using "antiquated equipment." Many months later, the war shows no indication of coming to an end.
Early on Tuesday, Ukraine's military said it had recorded 70 combat clashes along the front lines in southern and eastern Ukraine over the past day. In overnight strikes, Russia attacked Ukraine with 35 Iranian-designed Shahed drones or uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), Kyiv said.
Air defenses shot down 15 of the incoming kamikaze drones, Ukraine's air force said. The drones were launched from three different sites, and targeted several of Ukraine's regions, including the southern Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, as well as central Ukraine and the capital, Kyiv.
"The enemy directed part of the attack UAVs on the front-line territories, trying to hit the infrastructure of the fuel and energy sector, civilian and military facilities near the front line and the state border with the Russian Federation," Ukraine's air force said in a statement.
The Ukrainian military said it had "repelled" 32 attacks around the embattled Donetsk town of Avdiivka and the village of Marinka, southwest of Avdiivka. Russian forces took control of Marinka in late December.
Russia launched its offensive around Avdiivka three months ago, triggering thousands of deaths on both sides just ahead of the grueling winter season setting in across Ukraine. Western analysts were initially optimistic about Avdiivka holding out and Ukrainian defenses remaining unbreached. But almost daily, Moscow has been inching further around the industrial settlement.
Russian forces "marginally advanced" on the southeastern outskirts of Avdiivka, the U.S.-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said on Monday.
Russia's Defense Ministry did not refer to Avdiivka in its daily update on Monday, but said Ukraine had lost up to 210 fighters along the Donetsk frontline covering Avdiivka.
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