New heart-stopping battleground footage has captured the moment a unit made up of English-speaking foreign fighters ‘killed 22 Russian soldiers’ as they stormed a trench in Ukraine.
The unit, formed of Ukrainian soldiers as well as British, American, Canadian, Irish and Australians, came under intense drone bombardment as it carried out its mission to capture a tactically ‘dominant’ location near Avdiivka, Eastern Ukraine.
Footage of the assault – which left at least one British fighter injured – was released online on Tuesday by the 59th Motor Rifle Brigade, which added commentary to the clips.
The commander of the company does not reveal the exact location of the assault, instead referring to the position as ‘105-106 Heights’.
He describes the combat seen in the footage as the most brutal fight his unit has experienced when fighting for a position, telling viewers ‘the [Russian] opponents concentrated a lot of resources to hold it’.
‘I think this [mission] will go down in history as an exemplary assault, which was performed with character and constant pressure on the enemy,’ he said, introducing the intense 16-minute video of brutal, real-world combat.
Filmed by drones and body-mounted cameras, the footage shows the Brigade’s assault units Alpha, Bravo and Charlie storm the trenches under a hail of bullets and eliminate several Russian soldiers who have hunkered down there.
It opens with the Ukrainian troops in a convoy of armoured military trucks – speeding down the side of a row of dead trees lining vast, open, bombed-out fields.
A date stamp on the footage – released by Ukrainian YouTube channel Butusov Plus – shows that it was filmed on August 23, 2023.
Instantly the sound of gunfire is heard being exchanged between the mounted machine guns on the trucks and the Russian soldiers hiding in the trenches.
‘F***ng hell,’ one of the fighters can be heard saying in a thick English accent. Another, in an American accent this time, says: ‘That’s Russian.’
As the trucks slow down and the fighters prepare to launch their assault on foot, one of the armoured vehicles is hit by an explosion, launching dirt into the air.
Undeterred, the camouflaged-clad gunmen press on, climbing out of the trucks and taking up positions to provide covering fire for their comrades.
To shouts of ‘push up’ over the din of gunfire, the unit begins to advance on the trenches. One of the trucks is seen heavily damaged, with soldiers climbing out. It doesn’t appear that any of them were badly injured.
One of the soldiers filming the attack shouts ‘frag out’ before hurling a grenade into the sparsely wooded area, where the Russians are bedded down in cover.
Drone footage is interspersed with the first-person combat footage, using superimposed flags to show where the Alpha, Bravo and Charlie units are in relation to the Russians in the trenches.
This video shows the treeline, and how the three units of the Ukrainian side worked to surround two Russian units, sending one down the middle and two either side.
Despite coming under intense fire and several explosions going rocking the ground around them, Ukraine’s fighters are seen swiftly advancing to the treeline.
The footage shows one member of the Alpha group shoot dead at one enemy soldier, who makes the fatal error of leaving the cover of the trenches.
Another Russian soldier seen lying on the floor of the trench, and is also seen being shot as one of the Ukrainian fighters advances.
With the Ukrainian fighters now embedded in the trenches, the sound of a drone can be heard buzzing in overhead, forcing the soldiers to take cover.
‘Suicide drone!’ the soldiers can be heard shouting to each other as a warning.
The footage then cuts to the camera mounted on a Canadian’s helmet, who shouts to his comrades ‘I’m hit!’
He appears to be covered in dirt, suggesting he was close to where the Russian suicide drone struck. ‘Coming mate, coming,’ an Australian fighter is heard saying as he rushes to his comrade’s aid.
The Canadian’s hands are visibly shaking, but after a check-up, the Australian tells him that he ‘looks good’, encouraging him to get back on his feet.
The Canadian is not able to stand, but crawls through the trench to cover.
The footage then cuts to a drone filming the Charlie team, which appears to be made up of six soldiers – all bearing down on a Russian position which looks to include an enemy fighter with a grenade launcher.
Several explosions send them to the ground, but they all get back on their feet quickly and continue to push on.
At the other end of the trench, the Alpha and Bravo teams have a group of Russian soldiers pinned down, and are inching their way towards the position.
The Ukrainian drone hovering above the battlefield shows that one of the Russian soldiers is badly wounded and is being treated on the floor of the trench.
However, as a British soldier from Alpha unit approaches a nearby bend in the trench, the wounded Russian soldier is able to fire off a hail of bullets from his machine gun – blasting the Brit with several rounds, sending him flying backwards.
‘Man down!’ one of the fighters on the Ukrainian side shouts as they return fire.
Two of the fighters of the Ukrainian side push further up the trench while another brings up the rear to give medical aid to the British soldier.
Miraculously, he survived the initial burst of gunfire, and can be seen moving.
To add to the chaos in the trenches, another suicide drone is seen overhead and mercifully slams down into the ground a matter of feet away from Alpha’s position.
With the drone missing its target, a fighter with an American accent continues to assist his downed comrade, whose nickname appears to be ‘Mossy’.
‘Alright Mossy,’ he says. ‘I’m going to have to molest you a little bit so I can get these grenades out of you,’ while helping him to lift his arms slightly. Although dazed, ‘Mossy’ appears to be responsive and moving as his comrade retrieves grenades.
Re-armed with the explosives, Alpha unit is then able to advance further down the trenches and take out the surrounded Russia position. Blurred footage later shows the body of the Russian soldier who shot the British fighter on the ground.
The footage cuts again, this time to fighters in Bravo squad – two of which are seen hunkered down in a ditch littered with debris and fallen trees, while another two are seen in a small bunker dug into the ground.
The commentary by the 59th Motor Rifle Brigade’s commander returns again briefly.
With one flank of the Russian defence wiped out, he explains that the units – Alfa-Bravo to the left and Charlie to the right – are in a ‘difficult moment’ as they close in on the remaining surrounded Russia position.
He explains that the Russians are dug between two positions, with five enemy soldiers having taken cover in holes in the ground. There is a risk, he says, of friendly fire, as the Ukrainian troops approach from both sides.
This, he says, means the Ukrainian units have to be patient and wait until they can take shots at the Russians without hitting their comrades on the other side.
Back with a camera mounted on a Bravo team soldier, the footage shows two Russian soldiers suddenly running through the trees – out of cover.
The soldier with the camera shoots one, but the other runs towards the Ukrainian fighter’s position and into the trench – close enough to see his face.
He appears confused, lost almost, and unarmed. He holds his hands up in front of his body, and the white ‘Z’ of the Russian army is visible on his armoured vest.
Meanwhile, the fighter with the camera, who appears to have an American accent, can be heard shouting ‘what the f***’ – before the Russian sprints away again.
The remainder of the footage – shot by a drone – shows the Ukrainian units gradually picking off the remaining enemy soldiers one by one, completing the mission.
It was not immediately clear how many casualties the Ukrainian units took, but it was reported online that a total of 22 Russian soldiers were killed, and two captured.
Avdiivka has become a deadly flash-point in the almost two-year long war.
In 2023, Ukrainian units crashed against solid Russian defence and it is now Moscow’s troops on the attack, particularly around Avdiivka.
As with Bakhmut earlier in 2023, this industrial city on the eastern front has become a new symbol for Ukrainian resistance.
Massively destroyed, it still has around 900 residents compared to 30,000 before the war. However, the Russian noose is slowly tightening and a Ukrainian retreat cannot be excluded.
Avdiivka’s mayor Vitaly Barabash has called the situation ‘critical’ in recent days and said there is now house-to-house fighting in the city.
Russia has been sending ‘waves’ of men and the surrounding fields are ‘littered with corpses’, according to soldiers defending the city.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
