WATCH Russian soldier demolish building housing Ukrainian troops
A video has circulated online in which a Russian soldier single-handedly blows up a house held by Ukrainian infantry in Donbass.
Last week, several Russian Telegram channels covering the Ukraine conflict shared the clip, apparently filmed by a drone, and reportedly showing a Russian serviceman attack a house occupied by Ukrainian troops on the outskirts of the settlement of Novgorodskoye (known as New York in Ukraine) in Donbass, some 70km north of Donetsk.
The clip shows a Russian soldier stealthily approaching a window of a one-story, half-destroyed building, then throwing a heavy anti-tank mine into the house and immediately running for safety.
The soldier does not get far enough, however, as a powerful explosion tears the house apart from the inside, sending a large cloud of smoke and dust into the sky.
It is not clear from the video what happened to the soldier or his foes. However, Russian Telegram channels claimed that the former survived, albeit shell-shocked, while the Ukrainians were all killed in the blast.
The Telegram channel War Gonzo claimed that there were as many as six Ukrainian soldiers inside, who had been transported there by a US-made Bradley armored personnel vehicle.
Novgorodskoye has been an area of intense fighting, with earlier videos suggesting that Russian forces were using super-heavy FAB-3000 bombs to attack Ukrainian positions in the area. In recent weeks, Moscow's troops have made significant gains in Donbass, capturing several settlements while advancing toward the key town of Chasov Yar.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow is ready to immediately open peace talks with Kiev once it withdraws troops from Donbass and two other formerly Ukrainian regions and agrees to commit to a neutral status.
