Video Shows Burning Russian Convoy as Kyiv Thwarts ‘Battalion-Size’ Assault

Russian military vehicles went up in flames following an attack by Kyiv’s soldiers, according to Ukraine’s military, which has released video footage of the purported battle.

Ukraine’s Airborne Assault Forces posted on Facebook that its soldiers had managed to repel a 50-strong column of Russian equipment. Newsweek has yet to verify the details of the footage and has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email for comment.

The independent U.S.-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had repelled “a reinforced battalion-size Russian mechanized assault in the Kupiansk direction” in the first mechanized assault along the line since last winter.

A two-minute video showed aerial footage of military vehicles in flames in an open field, with smoke billowing into the sky.

In the post accompanying the clip, the Ukrainian military said that Russian forces had tried to storm the positions of Ukraine’s 77th separate airmobile brigade and the National Guard in two separate operations.

“However, even with such serious forces, the enemy units did not succeed,” the post said, adding how Ukraine’s paratroopers and national guardsmen had been successful in “defeating the enemy and pushing him back to their starting positions.”

The post added that two tanks, two armored personnel carriers and an infantry fighting vehicle had been destroyed during Russia’s attack “and those who remained managed to flee in panic.”

“The enemy column, which attacked the positions of the soldiers of the National Guard of Ukraine, also suffered a setback,” the post read, according to a translation.

The ISW said footage of damaged Russian armored vehicles crowded close to each other suggested that Moscow’s forces had attacked in tight columns. They became jammed once Ukrainian fire elements started to strike, which is “a common occurrence in failed Russian mechanized assaults.”

The Washington, D.C.-based think tank also gave more details about the location. It said that Ukrainian forces had been operating near the village of Pishchane, southeast of Kupiansk, Kharkiv oblast, after Russian forces had attacked directly on the Oskil River, where Moscow is trying to make gains.

Ukrainian military sources said that Russian forces had been driven back to their starting positions near Pishchane, while the ISW said that geolocated footage suggested that Moscow’s forces had made no advances during the assault.

Ukrainian officials said on Saturday that Russian forces had launched an attack on a hospital in the northeastern city of Sumy, killing nine people and injuring 12.

An initial strike hit the hospital while a second strike occurred as rescuers and police arrived to evacuate patients to safety in a so-called “double tap” strike by Russia, Ihor Klymenko, Ukrainian interior minister, said.