Screengrab of Ukrainian drone footage shows the ground covered with craters from artillery shell explosions in the destroyed village of Stepove near Avdiivka, Ukraine. Photo / AP
As Russian forces press forward with an attempt to capture the town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, Associated Press obtained aerial footage that gives an indication of their staggering losses.
A Ukrainian military drone unit near Stepove, a village north of Avdiivka where some of the most
intense battles have taken place, shot the video this month.
It’s an apocalyptic scene: In two separate clips, the bodies of about 150 soldiers — most wearing Russian uniforms — lie scattered along tree lines where they had sought cover. The village itself has been reduced to rubble. Rows of trees that used to separate farm fields are burned and disfigured. The fields are pocked by artillery shells and grenades dropped from drones. The drone unit said it was possible some of the dead were Ukrainians.
The footage was provided by Ukraine’s BUAR unit of the 110th Mechanised Brigade, involved in the fighting in the area. The unit said the footage was shot on December 6 over two separate treelines between Stepove and nearby railroad tracks, and that many of the bodies had been left there for weeks.
