This footage shows laughing Ukrainian paratroopers pumping makeshift Russian bulletproof vests full of lead and putting holes through them.
The images show the soldiers shooting metal plates they reportedly found inside the Russian ‘bulletproof’ vests, first with a handgun and then with a machine gun, and easily puncturing them.
The soldiers speculated that the red metal plates looked like they had been cut from Soviet-era fire boxes, which are used to collect sand to put out fires and are made of regular metal.
In the video, a first soldier can be heard saying: “Strong armor!” He then laughs as a second soldier says: “Everybody really needs to see this!”
One of the soldiers cuts open the Russian ‘body armor’ with a knife, revealing the metal plate inside. The second soldier then adds: “Look, f**k, this is a bulletproof vest from a Russian soldier!”
The soldiers can then be seen shooting at the red metal plate with a handgun and a machine gun. The second soldier asks: “Did it go right through?”
The first soldier replies: “Well, look, close up, yes!”
He then adds “Let’s try 5.45 caliber!” before firing at one of the plates with a machine gun. He then says: “Let’s put them together now! So? It went right through!”
The red plates then take fire from a machine gun, and even when one plate is placed on top of another plate, the round goes straight through both of them and into the ground beneath them. The first soldier also says: “The guys are telling the truth, it sucks to be an orc! Look what the hell they’re coming with!” Ukrainian troops often refer to the invading Russian forces as “orcs”.
The images were obtained from Officer Yurii Kochevenko on Thursday, August 25, who can then be seen saying to the camera, as the footage ends: “With a shot of the usual 5.45 [caliber rounds] it went through both of them, so come and die for mother Russia!”
Officer Kochevenko, of the 95th Air Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, Ukraine’s rapid reaction force, released the images along with a statement saying: “Here, we took another trophy, this time a MTLB (multi-purpose, tracked, lightly-armored fighting transporter).
“There is nothing interesting in the ‘scrap heap’ itself, ordinary Soviet scrap. But we are really impressed with the Russian soldiers’ armor. Everything will be Ukraine! Believe in the Armed Forces of Ukraine!”
The images and statement were also relayed by the Office of Strategic Communications (StratCom) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which added jokingly that the “bulletproof vests of the ‘second army in the world’ are pleasantly impressive”. The Armed Forces of Ukraine also relayed the footage and statement, and also mocked the ‘world’s second army’.
Zenger News contacted Officer Yurii Kochevenko for further comment, as well as the Russian Ministry of Defense, but had not received a reply at the time of writing.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Monday marks the 184th day of the war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between February 24 and August 29, Russia had lost about 47,100 personnel, 1,947 tanks, 4,269 armored combat vehicles, 1,060 artillery units, 279 multiple launch rocket systems, 149 air defense systems, 234 warplanes, 203 helicopters, 844 drones, 196 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 3,188 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 101 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower, but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he held a secret meeting with representatives from the country’s defense and security sectors on Sunday, adding: “All the issues we considered are important, but secret, I cannot go into detail.”
The meeting was reportedly attended by armed forces chiefs, the heads of the intelligence agencies, representatives from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, and others.
Ukrainian officials said on Sunday that Russian forces had shelled Ukrainian towns across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with artillery.
Oleksandr Starukh, the Governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, said that Russian forces had hit civilian infrastructure in the city of Zaporizhzhia and in the town of Orikhiv, to the east.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is waiting for its officials to receive clearance so they can visit the plant. But Ukrainian Energy Minister Lana Zerkal has said she is not convinced that Russia is negotiating in good faith.
The United States’ State Department has said in a statement that Russia does not want to acknowledge the grave radiological risk at the nuclear power plant, adding that it was the reason it has blocked the final draft of a nuclear non-proliferation treaty deal.
Ukraine is set to experience its coldest winter in decades, according to the head of the state gas company Naftogaz, Yurii Vitrenko. Germany has said that it is replenishing its gas stocks faster than expected despite Russian supply cuts.
The European Union’s foreign ministers are expected to make it harder for Russian tourists to get visas as of next week. The move falls short of banning Russian tourists outright, but it is expected to make obtaining travel documents significantly more complicated and costly.
