The moment Ukrainian soldiers ambush Russian military truck in deadly attack

By Olivia Christie 13:59 14 Aug 2024, updated 16:51 14 Aug 2024

First-person bodycam footage shows the heart-stopping moment Ukrainian soldiers ambushed a truck filled with Russian troops in a deadly attack as they continue their Kursk offensive. 

Ukraine's special forces, dressed in camouflaged suits, can be seen running through the woods hunting Putin's soldiers with grenades, guns and rockets. 

The group of around six heavily-armed men rapidly shoot at Russian targets as they make up ground and move closer to their enemy. 

The bodycam footage then captures the moment the soldiers use what appears to be a mini-rocket launcher to destroy a Russian truck hidden behind some trees. 

A bright orange blast shoots towards the vehicle which then bursts into flames with plumes of black smoke sent billowing up into the air. 

A post from the military unit on social media app Telegram said that the truck was 'heavily filled with enemy personnel', The Sun has reported. 

The Ukrainian forces said they managed to destroy all of the Russian equipment and eliminate the troops within four minutes of the attack.  

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Zelensky's troops surged across the Russian border on August 6 and began seizing territory in the most significant cross-border attack on the country since World War II. 

The Ukrainians have since managed to advance up to 20 miles in some directions and have captured dozens of towns and settlements. 

As of this morning they have also reportedly seized Sudzha - a strategic town that is also a key transit hub for Russian gas flowing into Ukraine.

More than 120,000 Russian citizens have been forced to flee their homes amid widespread regional evacuations since last Tuesday, while 12 civilians are said to have died.

While Russia has seen small-scale incursions into its territory since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the foray into the Kursk region is by far the most significant. 

It was also the first time the Ukrainian army proper had spearheaded an incursion, rather than pro-Ukraine Russian fighters that had defected - and the first offensive in Russia to be acknowledged by Zelensky.

Matthew Savill, the Director of Military Sciences at the RUSI think tank, told MailOnline there could be as many as 10,000 Ukrainian troops now in Russia.

'There's evidence of Ukrainian forces from at least four different brigades - 22nd and 88th Mechanised and 80th and 82nd Air Assault, and possibly more - now involved in the offensive in Kursk.

'These brigades are using Western-provided equipment like infantry fighting vehicles as well as Soviet-era tanks.

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'It's hard to judge numbers, but it might be enough for around a division - perhaps 10,000 - given the spread of fighting now underway.

'But we should be very cautious about determining exact size, because units are being rotated, and the presence of elements doesn't tell us the whole unit has been deployed.

'That ambiguity suits the Ukrainians.' 

Dara Massicot, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, added that the Ukrainian breakthrough was so effective because it exploited key gaps between various Russian commands in Kursk: border guards, Ministry of Defence forces and Chechen units that have been fighting on Russia's side in the war.

US President Joe Biden said that security officials were in constant touch with Ukraine over the invasion of Russia, which he said had 'created a real dilemma' for Putin.

The White House said Ukraine did not provide advance notice of its incursion and the United States had no involvement in the operation, though Russian officials have suggested Ukraine's Western backers must have known of the attack.

The Ukrainian advance in Kursk has also delivered a blow to Putin's efforts to pretend that life in Russia has been largely unaffected by the war.

An enraged Putin on Monday lambasted the incursion as a Western plot in its war with Russia, using Ukrainian soldiers to do their dirty work.

'It is now clear why the Kyiv regime refused our proposals to return to a peaceful settlement plan.

'To all appearances, the enemy, with the help of its Western masters, is doing their will. By the hands of the Ukrainians, the West is at war with us.

'But what kind of negotiations can we even talk about with people who indiscriminately strike at civilians, at civilian infrastructure, or try to create threats to nuclear power facilities?' the Russian president asked rhetorically, before instructing his armed forces to 'dislodge' the Ukrainian troops.

His comments regarding Ukraine's alleged indiscriminate strikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure will undoubtedly be ridiculed in Kyiv and the West.