A chilling video has emerged that shows a Russian soldier blown to pieces while he was livestreaming, wherein he was bragging about the kills he made on the frontline in Ukraine. It is not known when the incident happened but the video emerged only on Saturday that captures the horrifying moment.
The young soldier, who hasn't been identified by either Russia or Ukraine, was apparently bragging about his column's success for the day as he casually strolled through an active warzone, speaking to his camera, when the blast suddenly occurred. The distressing footage has now made its way to social media and has gone viral.
Blown to Pieces
The video opens with the young Russian soldier livestreaming from somewhere in Russia. He was apparently boasting about his column's success from the day and speaking to the camera. Moments later a large explosion is heard and the camera is seen turning away from the soldier as he is blown to pieces.
The video then comes to a halt with cries of people in pain coming. "Our main goal has been completed at A+, we got on only 3 x 300 (wounded)," a caption along with the video reads, posted on Reddit.
It's unclear whether the soldier was filming a live video or a story, and whether the platform used was Instagram or TikTok. However, the chilling video made its way to social media after someone posted it and has since gone viral.
The video comes as Russian forces continue to suffer huge losses, with over 20,000 soldiers having been killed in the past two months. With Putin's military having failed in their first wave of military objectives, Moscow has re-focused its efforts on seizing both the east and southern coast of Ukraine.
However, as in the first months of the invasion, Russian forces are being met with heavy Ukrainian resistance from Kyiv's determined armies.
Killed for Being Reckless
The video shows the recklessness of the Russian soldier and many believe that it is the inexperience of the Russian troops that are resulting in more losses for the Red Army. This video is just one of the examples of taking thing so casually.
Even people on social media agreed that seeming so casual in a warzone was not a good idea.
"Imagine walking around like your taking a stroll in a park in an active warzone. No tactical columns, no spacing, and absolutely no situational awareness. 2nd best military in the world? Get f***** Orc," one user tweeted.
"Dude you're in the middle of a f***** war and you're filming a tick tok video. Absolute fools, Slava Ukraini," wrote another user.
"Well, karma's quick," wrote yet another user.
According to the Daily Star, experts were claimed to have been using TikTok to track their army's activities before Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in late February. Professional military analysts, such as Konrad Muzyka, rely on videos uploaded to TikTok by Russian and Belarusian citizens as evidence.
"Each conflict has its own social media platform that propels the story to the world. Now, it's TikTok," Muzyka told the Daily Star.
"We also rely to a large extent on satellite images, and this is in combination of TikTok videos. Everything combined, I think, gives us a slightly better picture of what is actually going on."
"We're trying to figure out which units are coming," Lukas Andriukaitis with the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab told the outlet. "Where are they? Where they're being based, what kind of equipment they're bringing."
