Dramatic footage has captured the moment a Russian artillery crew was wiped out by a Ukrainian rocket strike.
Video released on Reddit shows the group of soldiers gathered at the side of a dirt road in the war torn country as the strike takes place – sending a blast wave in all directions.
The strike was reportedly carried out using a HIMARS rocket.
The Ukrainian armed forces have been supplied with the rocket launchers by the United States since June 2022 following the Russian invasion of the country in February of that year.
The rockets have been used to destroy Russian command posts and other targets in Ukraine – although the US has requested the Ukrainians do not fire them at targets within Russia itself in a bid to avoid escalating the ongoing war.
Russia claimed to have downed dozens of Ukrainian drones over the south of the country and in occupied Crimea on Friday as the two sides continue to escalated their long-range war as winter sets in.
The Press Association reports air raid sirens sounding in Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea, and traffic was suspended for a second straight day on a bridge connecting the peninsula, which Moscow seized in 2014, with Russia’s southern Krasnodar region.
Three people were injured on Thursday night by other Ukrainian rocket and drone attacks on the Russian border city of Belgorod and the surrounding region, according to Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has pledged to strike more targets on the Crimean Peninsula and inside Russian border regions this year.
Meanwhile, Russia has acquired ballistic missiles from North Korea and fired at least one of them at its neighbour on December 30, the White House said, citing recently declassified US intelligence.
UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps warned Pyongyang would pay a high price for supporting Russia, although he did not say in what way.
