Dramatic video shows Ukrainian troops dodging Russian bullets near Bakhmut

Ukraine’s armed forces have made more than a kilometre of gains around Bakhmut in the last 24 hours in what is the latest twist in the bitter conflict between Kyiv’s and Moscow’s troops for the devastated eastern city.

Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar today declared: ‘Our troops have switched from being on the defensive to being on the offensive in the direction of Bakhmut,’ as the military released intense battle footage from the frontline in the woods just outside the city. 

Military officials claimed Ukrainian fighters had retaken anywhere from 200 to 1,100 metres at different points on the outskirts of the industrial town.

But Russia’s defence ministry immediately disputed the claims, retorting that Ukraine’s forces had mounted what it said was a series of unsuccessful offensives near Bakhmut. 

Moscow just two weeks ago claimed to have completely conquered the city after Wagner group mercenaries, who spearheaded much of the assault, handed over control of the Bakhmut to regular Russian army members.

Ukrainian servicemen of the 3rd Assault Brigade move at their position on the front line in Bakhmut direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine

The commander is seen firing his assault rifle at Russian dugouts in open combat in the woods outside Bakhmut

The troop cleared out a series of Russian dugouts

A Ukrainian soldier fires a mortar at Russian positions on the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk region

The shocking battle clip opens with a platoon of Ukrainian fighters arriving just a few dozen metres from the frontlines and disembarking from an armoured vehicle.

The commander immediately tells his troops to flank to the left and right as they stalk through the trees and bushes towards Russian dugouts. 

Automatic weapons fire shatters a moment of calm and bullets can be heard whizzing past the camera.

Kyiv’s troops spring into action, crouching and running for cover before raising their rifles and shooting back at Russian positions. 

Early on they have the help of an armoured personnel carrier (APC), which trundles along the tree line and provides cover for the troop as they advance towards the Russians. 

But the APC quickly departs and the troop is left to fend for themselves. 

The commander, wearing a GoPro camera to capture the heart-pounding first-person footage, orders his men to sneak up on one Russian dugout and throw a pair of grenades into it. 

Later he is seen stalking through the woods when a bullet misses him by mere inches. He falls to the ground, yelling to his comrades that he had made contact with the enemy, and immediately returns fire. 

Elsewhere in Ukraine, tens of thousands of residents in Kherson and its surrounding towns have been displaced amid horrendous flooding after a series of blasts yesterday morning caused the critical Nova Kahkovka dam, which lies along the Dnieper river in Russian-held territory, to partially collapse.

Some two dozen towns were overrun by the deluge with shocking footage from the region showing how entire villages were submerged and houses swept away. 

News of the Ukrainian advances came after the head of Russia’s feared paramilitary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, slammed claims by the Russian defence ministry that it had killed 1,500 of Kyiv’s soldiers in two days as ‘absurd science fiction’

An aerial view shows destructions in the frontline city of Bakhmut, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine

The central square of Nova Kakhovka is flooded after the Kakhovka dam was blown up, in the Russian-controlled part of the Kherson Region, Ukraine

A local resident swims by a house in a flooded area in Kherson on June 7, 2023, following the destruction of Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam

Ukrainian security sails by a placard reading “Kherson is a city of shipbuilders” on June 7, 2023 in a flooded area of the town of Kherson

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of detonating an ‘environmental bomb of mass destruction’, saying authorities expected up to 80 settlements to be flooded and urging the world to ‘react’.

‘This crime carries enormous threats and will have dire consequences for people’s lives and the environment,’ Zelensky said, while US security officials warned there would likely be ‘many deaths’ as a result of the floods.

The Kremlin meanwhile has blamed Ukraine for the blast, claiming it was a ploy by Kyiv to distract from the launch of a major counteroffensive Moscow says is faltering. Russian President Vladimir Putin described the attack on the dam as a ‘barbaric act’. 

But Zelensky’s top security official Oleksiy Danilov dismissed the allegations and said that Putin’s next step may be to attack the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which lies just 80 miles up the river from Kakhovka and relies on water from the dam to cool its reactors.

Meanwhile in the northeastern Kharkiv region, fears of another environmental disaster in Ukraine were triggered when the world’s largest ammonia pipeline suffered shelling.

Pro-Moscow sources released footage purporting to show a cloud of gas settling over a wooded area close to the town of Masyutivka, which sits in a ‘grey zone’ between Russian and Ukrainian lines just north of Kupyansk and houses a pumping station for the Togliatti-Odesa pipeline.  

Ammonia is a key ingredient in nitrate fertiliser, of which Russia is one of the world’s leading producers. But it is also highly toxic and can cause severe irritation of the lungs, throat, nose and eyes. 

The pipeline stretches from 1,534 miles from Russia’s Togliatti on the Volga River to three Black Sea ports in southern Ukraine, including Odessa. 

It has been out of operation since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but large quantities of ammonia gas are still trapped in the pipeline. 

Russian sources released footage purporting to show a cloud of gas settling over a wooded area near the pipeline

President Volodymyr Zelensky said plans were underway to evacuate people from three Ukrainian-controlled villages on the frontline, and suggested the ammonia pipeline had been damaged by artillery fire from the Russians

Russia and Ukraine have both blamed each other for attacking the pipeline near Masyutivka. If the break in the pipeline is confirmed, gas leaks could prove fatal to anyone living nearby

Zelensky said plans were underway to evacuate people from three Ukrainian-controlled villages on the frontline, and suggested the ammonia pipeline had been damaged by artillery fire from the Russians.

But he was careful to draw a distinction between the Kakhovka dam explosion – something he said was a clear terrorist act by Russia – and what he described as the ‘consequences of war’ with regard to the ammonia pipeline attack.

‘In the grey zone one weapon or another could have been used – most likely, artillery,’ he said.

‘Yes, the Russian Federation is to blame, but those are the consequences of war.

‘But [in Kakhovka], we understand that this is terrorism. They mined it in advance and did it with their own hands.

‘We see this as a completely different category.’

Russia meanwhile alleged Ukraine initiated the shelling in an attempt to scupper a deal to reopen the pipeline. 

The footage allegedly showing an ammonia gas cloud was first published by Moscow-appointed official Daniil Bezsonov, deputy information minister in the occupied Donetsk People’s Republic.

Ammonia gas is colourless at room temperature, but explosions can kick up dust, debris, or other materials to create a visible cloud of smoke, particularly if the ammonia reacts with other substances. 

Shelling of the pipeline could prove to be a dealbreaker in regard to the Black Sea Grain Initiative – a pact brokered by United Nations and Turkey to help tackle a global food crisis worsened by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.