Video of Ukraine Army Drone Equipped With Machine Gun Viewed 500k Times

A video showing men fitting a machine gun onto a drone in Ukraine has gone viral on social media.

The men's faces in the video have been blurred out, but they are believed to be members of the Ukrainian army.

The video was posted on Tuesday by Twitter user Roman Kyryliuk, who is a software engineer volunteering in the Ukranian army, according to his Twitter bio. It has since been viewed more than 500,000 times.

"Hello Shahed-136! We attached a mini-machine gun to the drone. 1,000 likes on this video and I'll post a video of this drone in action," Kyryliuk wrote as a caption.

He also said viewers could support his drone school "Digital Sky" which teaches Ukrainian military drone operators.

Drone usage for the near eight-month conflict has become more prevalent for both Ukrainian and Russian forces.

Earlier this week, Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, was struck by Russian "Kamikaze drones," also known as Iranian Shahed drones, officials have said.

Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's office, confirmed the attack in a statement and called for "more air defense systems as soon as possible."

He said: "We need more weapons to defend the sky and destroy the enemy."

This comes a week after Russian strikes resulted in multiple civilian casualties.

Russia President Vladimir Putin justified last week's attacks by saying they were in response to an October 8 explosion on the strategically vital Kerch Strait Bridge that connects Russia's mainland to the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

Zelensky addressed the fact Iran is suppling Russia with drones in a video address on Tuesday.

He said that the Ukrainian military had shot down some of the drones and missiles launched at civilian areas, and that officials have already held several meetings regarding infrastructure restoration plans.

"We should remember that the very fact of Russia's appeal to Iran for such assistance is the Kremlin's recognition of its military and political bankruptcy," Zelensky said.

"For decades, they've been spending billions of dollars on their military-industrial complex, and in the end they went to bow to Tehran to get rather simple drones and missiles."

Over the weekend, the Iranian government denied that it was supplying Russia with drones, however.

"It only further proves to the world that Russia is on the trajectory of its defeat and is trying to draw someone else into its accomplices in terror," Zelensky said.

The reported support from the Iranian military could help Putin fill in the gaps of his depleting missiles supply, which Ukrainian officials have surmised is reduced to about one third of what Russia's military had at the start of the invasion.

Newsweek has contacted Ukraine and Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.