Russian soldier cheats death by throwing rifle at Ukrainian drone

This is the moment a Russian soldier cheated death by the barest margins by chucking his assault rifle at a Ukrainian drone that was a split second away from killing him. Footage taken from a different drone showed two Russian soldiers scrambling for their lives on the frontlines of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its 30th month.

The tiny FPV drone was seen menacingly circling the two soldiers, who were both seen frantically shooting at it. As one man tried to get some distance between himself and the drone, the other stood in place, still shooting at it.

Circling around once more, the soldier tossed his rifle at the drone, setting its explosives off a fraction of a second too early and letting him live by the skin of his teeth. The invasion of Ukraine has forced the nation to adapt its military capabilities, leading to a heavy reliance on drone warfare.

Ukraine unleashed more than 140 drones on Russia overnight, officials said on Tuesday, killing a woman near Moscow, grounding flights and setting off air defenses in several parts of the country.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement it had shot down 144 Ukrainian drones overnight – ’72 UAVs over Bryansk region, 20 over Moscow region, 14 over Kursk region, 13 over Tula region’, and 25 more over five other parts of the country.

Moscow regional governor Andrey Vorobyov said in a Telegram post that a 46-year-old woman had been killed and several people wounded when a UAV damaged at least two high-rise apartment building in the Ramenskoye district of Moscow region, some 30 miles southeast of the Kremlin. Videos of the attack show flames bursting out of windows of a multi-story residential building, with dozens of flats severely damaged.

‘I looked at the window and saw a ball of fire,’ Alexander Li, a resident of the district told Reuters. ‘The window got blown out by the shockwave.’ The attack marks one of the largest drone assaults against Russia since the beginning of the war.

As a result of the attack, four airports servicing Moscow – including major hubs Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo – had canceled or delayed flights on Tuesday morning, according to state media. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin confirmed a fire had broken out on the runway at Zhukovsky airfield, caused by falling debris from a downed drone.

A major road leading to the capital was also partially closed. A terrified resident told Shot media: ‘I saw a fireball [and] managed to cover my wife. ‘It was just a second, a bang and the window was blown out. We were all scared and ran in panic.’

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