Shocking footage has emerged of the moment Ukrainian paratroopers made an extraordinary bid to smash the international border with Russia by driving at full speed in a Kozak 2 armoured vehicle.
They audaciously sought to ram the Kolotilovka checkpoint with Russia’s Belgorod region in an apparent effort to expand the Ukrainian invasion which has already seen Kyiv’s forces seize huge swathes of territory in neighbouring Kursk region.
Reports say the vehicle hit dragon’s teeth barricades and was then attacked by a Russian FPV drone.
Russian artillerymen also unleashed a Krasnopol precision-guided shell at the vehicle.
The Russians branded it a ‘suicide mission’ attack by the fearless Ukrainian troops.
Some paratroopers miraculously escaped from the crashed armoured vehicle which is seen in a giant fireball explosion.
‘Barely alive after such a blow, the paratroopers still managed to unload at the entrance to the checkpoint,’ reported one account.
But Russian reports said those who escaped were quickly ‘eliminated’, while others ‘burned with the vehicle’.
At least seven Ukrainian troops are seen on the video.
But there were likely up to 11 in the domestically made Kozak-2.
Ukraine reportedly made several attempts to break through the border into the Belgorod region.
The incident coincides with reports that Russia had repelled Ukrainian efforts to break the border at Kolotilovka.
There were also reports that Ukraine was using tanks against the border.
This comes as more than 100 Russian soldiers surrendered en masse to Ukraine, claiming their commanders abandoned them.
An entire company laid down their arms and were taken as prisoners of war by the Ukrainian armed forces inside Vladimir Putin’s Kursk region.
A total of 102 held up the white flag in the biggest mass surrender of the brutal war between Russia and Ukraine.
The images will be seen as an abject humiliation for Kremlin dictator Putin, and as the result of the folly of him forcing untrained men and young conscripts to the front.
‘More than 100 Russians abandoned by their commanders made the right decision and surrendered,’ said Ukrainian outlet Want to Live, which seeks to broker surrenders.
‘They can be understood. It is hard to conduct military operations when you are commanded by tyrants and embezzlers, and the flanks are ‘covered’ by [Chechen leader Ramzan] Kadyrov’s bandits, who abandon everyone and everything, just so as not to be captured themselves.
‘And thanks to [Russian] General [Alexander] Lapin, who is helping us successfully advance in the Kursk region, just as in 2022 in the Kharkiv region, for the defence of which he was responsible.’
He was Putin’s controversial pick as deputy commander of ground forces and head of the Leningrad military district, a figure seen as incompetent by many pro-war hardliners.
Pravda Gerashchenko Telegram channel said: ‘Their commanders fled, so a company of fighters decided to save their lives and surrender to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.’
The captives would help Ukraine return its PoWs held by Russia in exchanges.
Yan Matveyev, a Russian military analyst, said the losses were serious for Russia. ‘Just imagine, in the video a quarter of an entire motorised rifle battalion is captured. A very serious blow to combat readiness.’