Video Shows Russian Armor Column Under Intense Fire: 'Absolute Carnage'

New footage has emerged hinting at the severe losses being suffered by Russian troops as Moscow pushes grinding advances at several points along the 600-mile front in eastern and southern Ukraine, despite the onset of a freezing winter.

A video published by the Ukrainian Aerobomber UA Telegram channel—affiliated with the Ukrainian 30th Prince Konstanty Ostrogski Mechanized Brigade—this week showed heavy fighting around the settlement of Synkivka, some five miles northwest of the city of Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast, a key part of the northeastern portion of the front line.

There, Russian forces have for months been pushing to complete their capture of Luhansk Oblast and expand Moscow's footprint in Kharkiv Oblast, which was mostly liberated by Ukrainian troops in their surprise offensive in fall 2022. Fighting has been hard and casualties reportedly high.

The video published by the 30th Mechanized Brigade showed a failed push by two Russian main battle tanks and two armored personnel carriers (APCs). Several other tanks and APCs can be seen destroyed or abandoned nearby, presumably lost during previous assaults in the area.

A combination of mines and artillery appeared to bring the column to a halt, as the detachment was raked with heavy machine gun fire and harassed by kamikaze drones. Dozens of Russian soldiers can be seen jumping out of the vehicles to seek cover in a nearby thicket. All four of the attacking vehicles were destroyed.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, the Tendar open-source intelligence channel detailed the "absolute carnage" the Russian detachment found itself in. "Artillery, cluster ammunition, drones, heavy machine guns, everything is pounding them," Tendar wrote.

Newsweek is unable to independently verify the footage and has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry by email to request comment.

Russian troops are continuing their months-long offensive in Luhansk and Kharkiv, making glacial gains and seemingly taking high casualties. The Institute for the Study of War noted on Thursday that there had been "positional engagements" in the Kupiansk area, including near Synkivka where the 30th Mechanized Brigade video was shot.

Ukrainian Ground Forces Command spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Volodymyr Fityo on Thursday reported an easing in the intensity of Russian action in recent days, though said there had been three separate attacks in the past day.

"It is possible that worsening weather conditions or some other tactical plans of the enemy have reduced the number of enemy attacks," Fityo said, as quoted by the state-run Suspilne Ukraine news agency. "However, the enemy tried to advance near Synkivka to advance in the direction of Kupiansk. He failed to achieve this."

Among the units attacking in the Synkivka area was the 25th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, according to Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets. The formation has been involved in the full-scale invasion from its beginning in February 2022.

"From all sectors and directions where, with the onset of the autumn-winter period, the enemy switched to active (offensive) actions, it is the Kupiansk direction that remains the least 'productive' for the enemy, primarily in the sense of the 'loss-result' ratio," Mashovets wrote on his Telegram channel.

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