Moment Ukrainian forces wipe out Russian platoon on front line as drone footage shows personnel carrier destroyed and soldiers picked off - after Putin secured biggest 24-hour gains for a YEAR
It comes amid the Russian army's biggest 24-hour advance into Ukraine in over a year, just ahead of the Trump-Putin summit, according to an AFP analysis of data from the US-based Institute for the Study of War.
In a video released by Oleksandr Pivnenko, Commander of the National Guard of Ukraine, a Russian armoured personnel carrier can be seen advancing towards the Pokrovsk front in eastern Ukraine.
Aerial reconnaissance recorded the rapid advance of the Russian platoon before Ukrainian soldiers destroyed the personnel carrier with targetted drone attacks.
Russian troops attempting to flee the scene are then shot down in a matter of seconds.
'Thanks to our professional actions, a Russian platoon was destroyed and the assault attempt was thwarted,' Pivnenko said, adding that National Guard soldiers had repelled 27 Russian assault actions on the battlefield over the past day, destroying three units of armored vehicles, eight artillery systems and more.
The Russian army took 110 square kilometres (42.5 square miles) of land in its lightning offensive on August 12 - the most territory it has seized in 24 hours since late May 2024.
The Ukrainian military estimates some 110,000 Russian troops are advancing in the direction of Pokrovsk in what may prove to be a major breakthrough for Vladimir Putin.
In recent months, Moscow has typically taken five or six days to progress at such a pace, although Russian advances have accelerated in recent weeks.
The US and Russian presidents, Donald Trump and Putin, are to meet in Alaska on Friday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged Tuesday that Russian troops had advanced by up to 10 kilometres (six miles) near the eastern coal mining town of Dobropillia, but that Kyiv would soon 'destroy them'.
Russia said Wednesday that it had taken two villages close to Dobropillia.
About 70 percent of Russia's advances in Ukraine so far this year are in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, which the Kremlin claimed to have annexed in September 2022.
As of August 12, Moscow controlled or claimed to control 79 percent of the region, up from 62 percent a year ago.
The Russian army has also been attempting to seize the mining town of Pokrovsk for more than 18 months, following its capture of Bakhmut in May 2023.
The last two major cities held by Kyiv in the region are also at risk. They are Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, which is an important logistical hub for the front.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, has made costly but incremental gains across the sprawling front in recent months
Russian progress in Ukraine has accelerated every month since April.
Between August 12, 2024 and August 12, 2025, the Russian army captured more than 6,100 square kilometres, four times more than the previous year, according to the AFP analysis of the institute's data.
However, these Russian advances account for less than 1 percent of pre-war Ukraine's territory, including Crimea and Donbass.
Russia currently has full or partial control over 19 percent of Ukrainian territory.
Kyiv diverted special forces units to hold off the Russian advance on the ground and the Ukrainian army said it was engaged in 'heavy' battles.
'Our units are waging heavy defensive battles against superior enemy forces,' the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine wrote on Telegram, adding: 'The situation is difficult and dynamic, but the Defence Forces are taking all necessary measures to detect and destroy enemy groups.'
It comes as the Ukrainian President travelled to Berlin on Wednesday for a German-hosted virtual meeting with Donald Trump and European leaders, two days before the U.S. president meets Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Europe's leaders are trying to drive home the perils of selling out Kyiv's interests at the first U.S.-Russia summit since 2021.
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