Bodycam footage shows the ferocious reality of the trench warfare raging in Ukraine as Kyiv’s forces assault a Russian dugout.
Five soldiers engage in close-quarters fighting as they capture the redoubt and take a prisoner of war before offering him a cigarette — viewing him as an ‘exchange fund’ for the return of their own personnel.
The scene is reminiscent of the world wars as the assault group clears the bullet-riddled post in a wood which is being shelled by Vladimir Putin’s forces who are trying to advance in the eastern Donbas region.
In the graphic, point-of-view video, the Ukrainian troops with the 24th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo use assault rifles, a submachine gun and hand grenades as they try to flush out Russian soldiers hiding a few feet away in the fortified tunnels.
At one point they come under fire before shooting and throwing explosives into the dugout, one of several enemy positions in the village of Bohdanivka, which lies near the strategically valuable frontline city of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk.
As they rake the post with gunfire, one of the Ukrainians shouts ‘are you f****** getting out or not?’
The Russian infantryman clambers out, saying: ‘My hands are in the air!’
The prisoner is then asked by his Ukrainian captor if he wants a smoke and told: ‘Just don’t be stupid ok, or you’ll be lying dead next to your mates.’
The 24th soldier tells his comrade to ‘tape him up so he doesn’t die’ after the prisoner says he has a leg wound.
Fierce combat has taken place around Chasiv Yar, with other videos posted on social media showing Ukrainian infantry and drone operators repelling Russian troops who have been using tanks and other armoured vehicles in their effort to capture the town.
A representative of the brigade who spoke with Metro.co.uk drew a contrast with the Russian treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war (PoWs), which has included detailed accounts of torture, arbitrary executions and denial of communication with families.
In March 2023, a video emerged showing Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Matsievskyi smoking a cigarette in a trench and saying ‘Slava Ukraini’, which translates as ‘Glory to Ukraine’, before suspected Russian troops shoot him dead.
The sniper with a unit from Chernihiv was posthumously awarded the Hero of Ukraine medal.
Andrii Polukhin, press service representative for the 24th, told Metro.co.uk that a group of five soldiers captured several positions and a PoW without any losses.
‘The difference is clear,’ he said.
‘We are part of the civilized world, we treat prisoners as human beings and adhere to international conventions.
‘We want to have an exchange fund to bring back every captured Ukrainian soldier. They, on the other hand, do not consider it necessary to follow any rules of war.’
Mr Polukhin also used the video to demonstrate the critical need for the supply of Western arms to bolster his homeland’s defence.
The 24th, which honours the 13th Century ruler Danylo Romanovych, has been fighting since the outset of Russian military aggression in 2014.
‘The world needs to unite against Russia and see that we can conduct successful military operations even with limited military aid supplies,’ Mr Polukhin said.
‘Our soldiers have good combat skills — brigades like ours have been fighting since 2014.
‘If we add the latest weapons and equipment to the experience of our units, it will be very effective.
‘That is why we need the support of the whole world.’
The footage was described as ‘terrifying’ by United24, Ukraine’s official fundraising platform, which shared the video on social media last week.
The organisation marked its second anniversary yesterday with a message from Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who originally launched the initiative.
The Ukrainian president thanked ‘millions of hearts around the globe’ for supporting the fund in aid of Kyiv’s war effort and spoke about a new campaign to launch an ‘army’ of combat robots.
He hailed Ukraine’s innovations in maritime and aerial drone technology and said: ‘We are adding another component to help people — we have to make it commonplace for our Defence Forces to use robotic platforms. These platforms must be efficient and sufficient, protecting the lives of our soldiers.’
On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces made advances near Lyptis in Kharkiv Oblast while Russia took ground near Avdiivka and the Donetsk-Zaporizhia border area, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
Moscow’s forces were shown in footage conducting ‘platoon-sized mechanised attacks’ east of Chasiv Yar but did not make any confirmed advances, the US think-tank said yesterday.
Meanwhile, the UK Ministry of Defence said that the annual Russian International Army Games had been called off, with likely reasons including possible criticism of a ‘trivial activity’ in wartime and a shortage of skilled military personnel and equipment risking the host nation’s ‘consistent domination’ of the competition.
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