Footage posted online appears to show a Ukrainian drone striking a commander in a Russian infantry fighting vehicle.
In a clip posted to Reddit, a grenade appears to be dropped on a Russian BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicle from a height, purportedly filmed from the perspective of a drone operator.
The vehicle's operators can then be seen emerging from the vehicle and attempting to leave the vicinity of the attack.
The clip may be linked to Ukraine's 72nd mechanized brigade, according to a description appearing at the beginning of the excerpt.
Newsweek could not independently verify the location or veracity of the clip, nor when it was recorded.
Newsweek has reached out to the defense ministries of Ukraine and Russia for comment and to Ukraine's General Staff of the Armed Forces regarding the clip's authenticity.
Russia's BMP amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle comes in several iterations, based on the BMP-1. The upgraded BMP-2 and the later BMP-3 feature modernized systems, with the BMP-3 combining "the best of an infantry fighting vehicle, tank destroyer, fire support vehicle, and amphibious personnel carrier," according to Russian state military exporter, Rosoboronexport. It has a top road speed of around 43 miles per hour, and a cruising range of approximately 370 miles, the state defense company said.
The BMP-3 is equipped with a 100mm cannon-missile launcher, 30mm automatic cannon, and 7.62mm machine gun, as well as machine guns fitted to the hull.
According to Dutch open-source military tracking outlet Oryx, Russia has lost a total of 2,286 infantry fighting vehicles—including 1,478 destroyed and 610 captured vehicles—as of Monday. Of these, 374 BMP-1 variants have been lost, as well as several hundred BMP-2 and 249 BMP-3 vehicles. However, the outlet only registers visually-confirmed losses, so the total figure may be higher.
Ukraine's authorities frequently share footage of attacks, including drone strikes recorded through unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Drone clips that surfaced last June also showed Ukrainian UAVs targeting a Russian BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle.
Earlier this month, Ukraine's military shared a video of a soldier targeting a Russian tank using a U.S.-made Javelin anti-tank missile. In late March, Ukrainian forces posted footage of a drone taking out a Russian-TOR-M2 missile system.
Drones have taken on a prominent role in the Ukraine war for both Moscow and Kyiv's forces.
"They are the super weapon here," Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, told Newsweek in February. "This war is a war of drones," he added.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
