This footage purports to show Russian fighter planes attacking targets in Ukraine.
The footage allegedly shows Russian military aircraft being loaded with ammo before a pilot can be seen getting into the cockpit and taking to the skies along with a wingman in another aircraft.
Four planes can at one point be seen flying over countryside. The footage then shows an aircraft’s targeting system, with ordnance apparently being fired.
The plane can then apparently be seen landing back at base as the footage ends.
The images were obtained from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Tuesday, 31st August, along with a short statement claiming that the images show “combat sorties by pilots of Su-25 attack aircraft of the Eastern Military District.”
The Russian MoD also claimed: “In the course of sorties, attack aircraft pilots, operating at extremely low altitudes, delivered rocket air strikes against fortified positions, equipment and weapons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“Missile launches were carried out by pairs of attack aircraft from low altitudes. To counter enemy air defense systems, the pilots fired off heat traps and performed anti-missile maneuvering.
“The defeat of the targets was recorded by the means of objective control. As a result of the combat use of aviation weapons, camouflaged fortified field positions and armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were destroyed.”
We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 189th day of the war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 30th August, Russia had lost about 47,100 personnel, 1,947 tanks, 4,269 armoured combat vehicles, 1,060 artillery units, 279 multiple launch rocket systems, 149 air defence systems, 234 warplanes, 203 helicopters, 844 drones, 196 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 3,188 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 101 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower, but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
An adviser to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Oleksiy Arestovych, has said that the country’s counteroffensive to retake Kherson will be a “slow operation to grind the enemy”.
Arestovych added: “Of course, many would like a large-scale offensive with news about the capture by our military of a settlement in an hour. But we don’t fight like that… funds are limited.”
President Zelensky has said that “heavy fighting” is ongoing in “almost the entire territory” of Kherson.
Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Southern Command, said that Ukraine’s forces have successfully damaged bridges that cross the Dnieper River to Kherson, leaving them “impassable for heavy machinery”.
The Russian-installed leader of occupied Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, has reportedly fled back to Russia.
President Zelensky said that Ukraine’s parliament has endorsed several laws and ratifications to bring the country closer to the European Union. He added: “We are moving step by step towards full membership in the EU.”
The last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, has died in Moscow aged 91. Tributes to the statesman, who passed away on Tuesday, 30th August, have been pouring in. Gorbachev has been praised for bringing an end to the Cold War with his policy of “openness” (glasnost).
