A Russian soldier narrowly escaped injury after accidentally firing his anti-tank RPG weapon at his own feet during a training exercise. Social media footage shows the soldier struggling to lift the gun onto his shoulder while attempting to adjust it correctly.
Training exercise goes wrong
While trying to move the weapon into the correct position on his shoulder, the soldier pointed the deadly anti-tank weapon at his feet when it fired. The blast set off a mini-explosion and sent him running from the scene.
The man's trainer, who was filming the incident, yelled: "You f****** idiot, move back! What, are you stupid?" and continued to scold the man, adding: "Have you gone crazy, are you a f**** idiot?"
Pressure on Russian forces
This blunder comes as the Kremlin's army faces growing pressure from Ukrainian drones and aging military equipment. British PM Andy Burnham visited Ukraine this week in his first international trip since entering No10, arriving on the 35th anniversary of Ukraine's independence.
Burnham declared the UK will hand over declassified documents to help Kyiv build its own long-range missiles alongside France, pledging he will "keep up the pressure on Russia."
Casualty figures and support
According to Kyiv, nearly 1.5 million Russian troops have been killed since the beginning of the conflict, with approximately 1,500 casualties yesterday. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a US think-tank, believes 140,000 Ukrainians have been killed since the start of the war. Kyiv has not shared exact figures of its casualties.
This show of support follows the UK being the first country to gift long-range strike weapons in 2023, used to destroy Russian naval ships and command centres. Ukraine has been striking deep within Russia in its latest attempts to claw back control of its borders, raining down drone strikes on the warehouses of the country's second-biggest online retailer Ozon.
During a speech in Kyiv, Mr Burnham compared the Russia-Ukraine conflict to Britain's fight against Nazi Germany during the Second World War and said he will continue to offer unwavering support against Russia's "outrageous threats."
Kremlin reaction
Monday's announcement reportedly infuriated President Putin, with the Kremlin declaring that the sharing of top-secret blueprints amounts to direct military intervention in the war. Andrei Fedorov, an adviser to the Kremlin and a former deputy foreign minister, warns that UK drone manufacturing factories could come under attack from "unknown sources" following the British-Ukrainian agreement.
