A barbaric Russian soldier has claimed his battalion had “blown the heads off” Ukrainian servicemen, with a sickening video purportedly showing a severed head impaled on a pole.
The gruesome images have been denounced by the kyiv authorities as a war crime to the United Nations, and appear to have been taken at a Russian border crossing in the Belgorod region.
Ukrainian troops made a failed attempt to break through the Kolotilovka checkpoint into Russia this week in an apparent effort to expand their invasion, which has already seen Kiev forces seize huge swathes of territory in the neighbouring Kursk region.
Moscow said today that kyiv has used Western missiles, probably US-made HIMARS, to destroy a bridge over the Seym River for the first time in the region, and a dramatic video shows the devastating attack.
The destruction of the key bridge is just the latest blow to Vladimir Putin, as Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces seek to thwart the dictator’s wartime supply lines and inflict “maximum damage to all Russian positions.”
A Russian soldier from the Pacific Fleet’s 155th Brigade says the “dead” in his unit “salute you, Khokhols,” a derogatory word used by Russians to refer to Ukrainians.
The sickening video, shared by a Russian Telegram account, purportedly shows a severed head impaled on a pole.
As Ukraine’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk region enters its 12th day, kyiv claims to have taken control of 82 settlements in an area of 440 square miles (1,150 square kilometers).
Russian propaganda is in full swing as Putin’s men desperately try to save face after the surprise raid, claiming the successful defence of Kolotilovka against Ukrainian marines as a victory and attempting to use it as a warning.
In a chilling video of the events after the attack, a Russian soldier from the Pacific Fleet’s 155th Brigade says the “dead” in his unit “salute you, Khokhols” – a derogatory word used by Russians to refer to Ukrainians.
“You have made an unforgivable mistake by trampling your filthy pig hooves on our holy land,” he threatened. “Today some of you have had your heads blown off by our pressure.”
He continued his sinister threat: “It will be the same every time we meet. The dead have no mercy. The dead know no fear. The dead are coming for you, Khokhol.”
Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, said he had contacted the UN and the Red Cross over the abhorrent footage filmed at the Kolotilovka checkpoint.
“These videos are used by the enemy to intimidate and demoralize Ukrainians,” he said. “However, this only reinforces our desire to hold accountable all those who commit such inhuman atrocities.”
It is not clear how the Ukrainian soldier was beheaded.
On the day this happened, August 12, another video showed a daring attempt by Ukrainian troops to cross the border at high speed in a Kozak-2 armored vehicle.
The vehicle came to rest on concrete barricades shaped like ‘dragon’s teeth’ and then exploded following a drone strike.
Some of the Ukrainian paratroopers escaped alive from the Kozak-2 and were reportedly “liquidated” by the Russians.
On the day this happened – August 12 – another video showed a daring attempt by Ukrainian troops to cross the border at high speed in a Kozak-2 armored vehicle.
The armored vehicle was attacked with a drone and explosive projectiles.
The barbaric act of the severed head is allegedly the work of the 155th Marine Brigade of the Russian Pacific Fleet, which is known to have been relocated to this part of Russia.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, the 155th Guards Brigade was involved in atrocities such as the killings of civilians earlier in the war in Bucha, Irpen and Hostomel in the kyiv region.
Undeterred by the latest threat and urging his armed forces to keep up the pressure, Zelensky said in his final video address: “We see that the occupier is suffering losses, and this is useful, very useful for our defence.
‘It is about destroying the logistics of the Russian army and depleting its reserves.
We must inflict maximum damage on all Russian positions, and that is what we are doing.
“I thank each of our warriors for their precision, I thank them for their strength and for their resilience.”
kyiv will be encouraged by its latest successful attack on Russian infrastructure: the demolition of a key bridge over the Seim River, which prevented Putin from transferring personnel and sending reinforcements to the border area.
Dramatic aerial footage shows huge explosion at key junction in Kursk region
The bridge in the Glushkovsky district was blown up in a second attack, after the first attempt punctured the structure but left it intact.
Images show the bridge completely destroyed after the alleged HIMARS attack
The bridge in the Glushkovsky district was destroyed in a second attack, after the first one pierced the structure but left it intact. Reports indicate that this is not the only bridge destroyed.
“For the first time, the Kursk region was attacked by Western-made rocket launchers, most likely American HIMARS,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the Telegram messaging app on Friday evening.
“As a result of the attack on the bridge over the Seym River in the Glushkovo district, it was completely destroyed and volunteers who were helping the evacuated civilian population were killed.”
A pro-war channel posted a frantic message: “Part of the Glushkovsky district is now isolated. These are Tyotkino, Popovo-Lezhachi, Volfino and about 27 other settlements.
“The evacuation of the civilian population can only be carried out by river. The enemy is also attacking the bridge in the village of Zvannoye in the Glushkovski district.”
The blown-up bridge is located about 13 miles inside Russia from the border.
It is yet another humiliation for Putin, who has shown himself incapable of controlling his own territory while trying to devour his neighbour Ukraine.