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A video appears to show a lone Russian soldier hiding in a trench and dropping grenades on him from a drone.
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The man grabs two grenades and tosses them before they explode.
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The video was widely shared by Russian media and bloggers as an example of courage.
A video appears to show a Russian soldier in Ukraine grabbing and throwing grenades dropped on him by an attack drone just before they explode.
In the video, a Russian soldier appears to be alone in a trench when a Ukrainian drone shoots him with a grenade. With only moments left, the soldier grabs the grenade with his bare hands and throws it away.
Later in the video, another grenade falls into the soldier’s lap, and he grabs it and throws it, just before it explodes nearby.
It’s not clear where the video came from, but it has been widely shared online by Western media and pro-Kremlin bloggers and outlets touting the video as an example of Russian bravery.
Grenades usually detonate within 3-5 seconds of the pin being removed, meaning there are only a few seconds to react.
According to the Russian newspaper Pravda, the government of the Russian region of Leningrad has praised and identified the soldier’s quick responses in a statement.
“We are proud of the courage and response of our compatriot – infantryman Alexei of the 138th Motorized Rifle Brigade stationed in the village of Kamenka, Vyborgsky District of the Leningrad Region. We thank the commanders for their training! We wish good military success to all fighters of the brigade,” said a statement from the government of the Leningrad region.
Russian outlet Signal wrote on Telegram that the video was shot in the spring in the Ukrainian village of Mala Rohan, in Kharkiv Oblast.
He added that the soldier was still alive.
The video is circulating online as Russia continues to experience battlefield setbacks in Ukraine, most recently the withdrawal of troops from Kherson, the first major city taken by Russia after it began its invasion in February.
Ukraine has taken back territory in the east and south through a series of successful counter-offensives, amid reports of low morale and a high death toll of Russian soldiers.
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