Anti-Putin rebels have released a video that they say shows them using kamikaze drones and troops on the ground to ambush elite Spetsnaz commandos in Russia.
However, other videos are circulating that suggest Moscow is now hitting back hard.
The coordinated attack on the Spetsnaz commandos is said to have taken place in the Belgorod Oblast, where groups of rebels determined to bring down Vladimir Putin’s regime have launched multiple raids in recent weeks.
Now remarkable footage – including some taken from a kamikaze drone itself – has been released of an attack on Russian troops, said to be elite special forces soldiers.
The footage shows soldiers patrolling the perimeter of a residential building. It then cuts to explosions outside the house – and footage taken from the drone as it homes in on its target.
READ MORE: Putin reeling over ‘largest attack on Russian soil since WW2’
The three-minute video also shows rebel forces on the ground pound the home with missiles – before another kamikaze drone strikes. Set to a thrash metal soundtrack, the video shows a huge fire then engulf the house.
Igor Sushko, a Ukrainian-born racing driver who now lives in America, was among those sharing footage of the incident on social media. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Sushko said: “Anti-Putin Russian liberation forces surrounded Putin’s fascist soldiers hiding in a residential building in Kozinka (Belgorod region) and eliminated them. They then ambushed the incoming GRU Spetsnaz rescue team (2nd Detached Special Forces Brigade, unit 64044).
“Disposing of regular Russian soldiers is one thing, but the Russian Volunteer Corps ambushing and defeating the elite Russian military intelligence GRU Spetsnaz operators on Russian territory is quite something.”
Putin has vowed to hunt down every Russian who defected to the Ukrainian army.
On Tuesday, he ordered Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) to track down and “punish” the soldiers.
And videos circulating on social media this morning suggest Russia is striking back hard against the rebels and other Ukrainian forces in the border region.
One (above) reportedly shows the destruction of a multiple rocket launcher system (MLRS) that forces loyal to Kyiv were said to be using to attack Belgorod.
Another (above) is said to show “Russian aviation and artillery” striking “concentrations of Ukrainian militants on the Belgorod border”. This video shows a building reduced to rubble by a huge explosion.
One poster on X said: “Powerful strikes destroyed the manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian DRGs, as well as their temporary deployment points.”
