Ukrainian troops showed off their stash of shells in an underground hideout before loading a pair into mortars and blasting them at enemy forces.
Zenger News obtained the footage from the 79th Air Assault Brigade – a formation of the elite Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, which are garrisoned in the city of Mykolaiv during peacetime – on July 22.
The 79th Air Assault Brigade said: “Mortar units of Mykolaiv paratroopers support their comrades with fire.”
The mortar commander of the 79th Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, who was not named but who goes by the call sign ‘Voron’, said: “They damaged tanks, hit BMPs, and we don’t even count the infantry.
“Our video shows how the mortar unit of the Mykolaiv Air Assault Brigade conducts combat operations.
“Death to the Russian invaders! Together to victory! Glory to Ukraine!”
BMPs are a series of Soviet and Russian infantry fighting vehicles that are not unlike light tanks.
Zenger News contacted the 79th Air Assault Brigade for further comment, as well as the Russian Ministry of Defense, but had not received a reply at the time of writing.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is calling a “special military operation”. Monday marks the 152nd day of the invasion.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between February 24 and July 25, Russia had lost about 39,700 personnel, 1,730 tanks, 3,950 armored combat vehicles, 876 artillery units, 257 multiple launch rocket systems, 116 air defense systems, 222 warplanes, 188 helicopters, 719 drones, 174 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 2,832 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 73 units of special equipment.
Ukrainian officials have vowed to recapture the southern region of Kherson by September. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that his forces are advancing “step by step” into the Russian-occupied region.
The has reportedly been heavy fighting over the weekend near the city of Kherson.
Ukraine has warned that a deal to export grain via ports located on the Black Sea will be put on hold if Russia attacks key ports were airstrikes again. The move comes after a missile attack on Odesa on Saturday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denied that Russia is to blame for the ongoing global food crisis and instead accused Western nations of distorting the truth.
Ukraine’s health ministry has said that nearly 900 medical facilities have been damaged or destroyed since the Russian invasion of the country.
Russia has charged 92 members of the Ukrainian armed forces with crimes against humanity, the head of Russia’s investigative committee has claimed.
