The Freedom of Russia Legion which sides with Kyiv against Vladimir Putin’s invasion has released a video it says shows Russian troops cowering during their brazen cross-border incursion.
The clip shared on its Telegram channel purports to be the first video of the operation in Russia’s Belgorod oblast and says that it shows “the cowardice and unprofessionalism of Putin’s troops.”
The legion claimed to have seized villages in Belgorod on Monday in an operation that Moscow said was conducted by a Ukrainian “sabotage group” which clashed with Russian troops.
SERGEY BOBOK/Getty Images
Ukraine has denied any connection with the daring raid for which another anti-Kremlin militia, the Russian Volunteer Group also claimed responsibility.
The video lasting one minute and 52 seconds starts with a scene-setting horizon shot captioned “Belgorod region” before segueing into the interior of a military vehicle with what appear to be members of the legion driving along a road in an unspecified location.
Drone footage overhead shows what is described as an “enemy BMP-2” military fighting vehicle and then the clip shows a residential house. A caption says that personnel of a Russian motorized rifle company “look for a place to hide in the abandoned residential buildings of local residents.”
“Having a numerical superiority, acting on territory familiar to them, the soldiers of the RF Armed Forces were hiding in panic in the landings and under the fences,” the Telegram post said.
The video purportedly shows the shelling of where Russian personnel were hiding and strikes on their equipment.
“They wanted to play hide and seek, but our gunners play better,” it said, adding that the footage showed “destroyed and damaged equipment that will no longer travel along Russian roads to destroy Ukrainian cities.”
The clip has not been independently verified, and Newsweek has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
While Russia claimed to have regained control of the situation by Wednesday, the legion described the operation as a success and said that it had captured a large amount of equipment and taken prisoners.
“We will come again, Bryansk, Kursk, Voronezh, Rostov, Moscow—wait for us,” it said on Thursday In a Telegram post.
It comes amid a report that Russia’s interior ministry building in Belgorod oblast was hit by a drone attack. The Baza online news outlet reported the drone dropped an explosive device on the migration department building in the village of Maysky on Friday.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, the regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that an explosive device dropped from a drone damaged a building of the state-owned energy giant Gazprom.