The Russian Defense Ministry has published a video that allegedly shows the “destruction of AFU units.” The MOD claims the footage depicts combat action by airborne units.
“The enemy attempted to breach the unit's defense perimeter. At that time, it was decided to use the unit commander's reserve consisting of a flamethrower platoon, which destroyed the advancing AFU units and prevented their breakthrough using man-portable rocket-assisted Shmel flamethrowers,” the MOD's claims.
In the video, the servicemen simply fire flame throwers at sunflowers and dry grass. There are no AFU units, military equipment or any traces of Ukrainian military presence in the footage.
In addition, Current Time pointed out that, judging by the video's metadata, it was recorded as early as July 31. The project file used by the video editing program was named “1stAAB_v2 exercises,” which apparently stands for “exercises of the 1st Airborne Assault Battalion (or Brigade),” the journalists say.