Ukrainian Sniper Catches Russian Soldier with His Pants Down: Video

A new video circulating online appears to show a Ukrainian sniper targeting a Russian soldier as he attempts to relieve himself, in the latest of a large number of battlefield and propaganda clips coming out of the 18-month-long war between Moscow and Kyiv.

The grainy clip, which some viewers may find upsetting, shows a figure squatting down towards the ground, revealed by a break in the undergrowth, before he topples over.

The video offers no indication about when or where it was filmed, and Newsweek cannot independently verify the veracity of the clip. The Russian Defense Ministry has been contacted for comment via email.

Footage from the ongoing war frequently reaches social media, often from official channels such as Ukraine's military authorities. Although it is difficult to verify footage from the front lines, videos from the war can offer both a glimpse of the reality on the ground and become effective propaganda tools.

The video also illustrates the importance of snipers in the war. With the front lines shifting slowly across a relatively flat landscape, isolated troops are vulnerable to snipers on both sides, whose influence can have a demoralizing effect on opposing forces.

On Thursday morning, Ukraine's military said Russia had launched another series of air and missile strikes on Ukrainian territory over the past 24 hours. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 28 out of 31 cruise missiles and 15 Iranian-made Shahed-131 and -136 kamikaze drones, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a statement.

Ukraine launched its own long-range unmanned aerial vehicle attack on Moscow on Thursday morning, Russia's Defense Ministry said in a post to social media. Russian air defenses took out the drone over the capital's Voskresensky district, the Kremlin said. Two more Ukrainian drones targeted Russia's Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, on Wednesday evening, the ministry said in an earlier post.

Russian units "repelled nine attacks" by Ukrainian airborne assault units around the settlement of Robotyne and the village of Verbove, to the east of Robotyne, the Russian Defense Ministry said in an update on Wednesday. Ukraine said it had regained control of Robotyne, to the south of the Zaporizhzhia city of Orikhiv, earlier this week, in the latest reported gain along the southern front line.

Kyiv's troops had stopped Russian offensive operations around Verbove, Ukraine's General Staff said on Thursday, adding Moscow had launched air strikes on several Zaporizhzhia settlements, including Verbove and Robotyne.

The General Staff also said in an operational update on Thursday that its troops had been "successful" to the south of the devastated city of Bakhmut, and were strengthening their new positions. Moscow's fighters "conducted unsuccessful offensives" around the settlements of Klishchiivka and Kurdyumivka, to the south of Bakhmut, Kyiv's military said.

Russia said it had captured Bakhmut in mid-May, with Wagner mercenary troops pulling out of the destroyed city.