The footage appears to show a Russian soldier aiming his gun at a Ukrainian S-300 missile launcher from a close distance.
The cameraman asks the soldier taking aim if he is ready. “Ready,” one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops responds, before puling the trigger.
Moments later, the S-300 missile launcher explodes upon impact, and sends fireballs toward the Russian soldier and the cameraman. The soldier and his comrade flee to take cover, and the clip cuts a few moments later.
It is not clear whether the pair suffered injuries in the blast.
The video was highlighted by OSINT Technical, who said it showed the “Russian soldier” destroying the vehicle.
Newsweek has been unable to verify where or when the clip was taken.
It’s the second such clip to emerge in recent weeks, appearing to show Russian attacks backfiring.
On June 24, a video that circulated on social media appeared to show the moment a Russian air defense system malfunctioned, with the missile seeming to turn back to the point it was fired from.
Local media outlets in the Ukrainian city of Alchevsk in the Luhansk region reported that the air defense missile appeared to change trajectory after launch, and struck near to the system itself. Alchevsk is currently under the occupation of Moscow-backed separatist forces.
The video was first published by the Telegram channel Kyiv Operative, and showed the moment one of the missiles turned sharply, creating a large explosion upon impact and sending sparks into the sky.
It was not clear whether there were any casualties as a result of the explosion, and the cause of the malfunction is unknown.
The incident caused a fire near residential buildings in the area, Ukrainian news outlet 24TV reported at the time.
And in a separate incident in June, a Russian military aircraft crashed and caught fire in western Russia, killing four people and injuring five others. Russia’s Defense Ministry blamed an engine malfunction.
Putin’s war, now in its fifth month, is now focused on seizing the Donbas region, which comprises the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts.
Moscow claimed a major victory on Sunday by capturing the last Ukraine-held area of the Luhansk region. Putin’s forces are now ramping up an offensive in Sloviansk, a frontline city in the Donetsk region.
The U.K.’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that there is a realistic possibility that the battle for Sloviansk will be the next key contest in the struggle for the Donbas.
Newsweek has reached out to Russia’s Foreign Ministry for comment.
