Fleeing Russian Soldier Hit by Falling Tree, Video Shows

A video circulating on the messaging app Telegram purportedly shows the moment a fleeing Russian soldier was hit by a falling tree.

The clip, timestamped Thursday morning, was posted by Telegram channel Bokchala_WAR, which says it reviews and analyzes events in Ukraine. "This morning in the direction of Bakhmut they chased [Russians soldiers]," the video is captioned.

Its publication comes a little over a month since Ukraine kickstarted a counteroffensive to reclaim territory seized by Russian forces throughout the course of the 16-month old war.

On July 5, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on her Telegram channel that there was fierce fighting ongoing in the Bakhmut direction, and that Kyiv's forces were "hitting the enemy in the east so powerfully that in some areas their military units have begun to leave their positions as whole units."

The drone footage showed a lone soldier running before he tripped and was struck by a falling tree.

Newsweek has been unable to verify the authenticity of the video, and has contacted Russia's foreign ministry for comment.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank, said in its latest update on the war Thursday that Ukraine continued counteroffensive operations on at least three sectors of the frontline on July 13 and made gains in some areas.

It noted that the Ukrainian General Staff reported that Kyvi forces continued offensive operations in the Bakhmut, Melitopol (western Zaporizhia Oblast), and Berdyansk (Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area) directions.

"Ukrainian officials also reported that Ukrainian forces advanced on Bakhmut's southern flank, while geolocated footage published on July 11 shows that Ukrainian forces recently made limited advances north of Krasnohorivka," the ISW added.

Ukraine released a video this week urging patience as many question the slow pace of the counteroffensive.

"Patience, dear, we know what we're doing," the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security of Ukraine (SPRAVDI) tweeted on Sunday, sharing a 53-second video that includes clips from video games, movies, and battlefield footage.

The clip was released shortly after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that his forces are advancing slowly.

"We are advancing," Zelensky said during a visit to the Czech Republic on July 6. "We have the initiative now. The offensive is not fast, that is a fact. But, nevertheless, we are moving forward and not moving backward like the Russians. Therefore, I see this as a positive."

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