The astonishing moment Russian soldiers are catapulted into the air as they accidentally set off an anti-tank mine in Ukraine has been caught on film.
The clip was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by a user with the handle @SpecialKhersonCat and has been viewed close to 2 million times since it was posted on Thursday (April 25). The user captioned the clip: “Russians were trying to remove and anti tank mine but accidentally triggered it”.
The short video shows three soldiers dressed in camouflage as they jog up to the mine from a tank. The first solider approaches the explosive but as he does it explodes into a fireball.
The troop is flung through the air, landing somewhere off camera. A plume of smoke quickly appears and dissipates, revealing a second soldier writhing around on his back, kicking his arms and legs.
He then stops wriggling lies still before trying to wave away the smoke while still lying down. The third soldier manages to avoid the blast, running back towards the tank to take cover.
Social media users took the post as a nod to criticize the Russian government. One user commented: "If only more Russian mothers could see how their sons' lives are being wasted in #Ukraine!".
A third said: "It's not a good sign when the two experts are running up to the [bomb] they're supposed to defuse. Terrible and sad."
And a fourth wrote: "Even though its Russian scumbags its still hard to see the guy suffering and flapping like a lame duck."