Dramatic dash-cam video footage filmed just outside the Russian town of Sudzha in Kursk Region shows a car dodging Ukrainian anti-tank mines and then small-arms fire, as an exasperated driver and his passenger flee for their lives.
Since Tuesday morning, Kiev’s troops have been clashing with Russian army and border guards in a bid to push deeper inside the border region.
The footage was filmed from inside a vehicle as it approaches Sudzha from the northeast, RT’s analysis has established. It shows a three-way roundabout just north of the city and other features, including a sign marking the entrance to the town.
As the vehicle approaches the junction, a burst of gunfire can be heard, and the two people inside the car become concerned. Seconds later they pass an abandoned car, with its driver-side window seemingly riddled with bullets and what appear to be anti-tank mines dotting the road.
Events then go into overdrive, with more gunfire going off, and the driver desperately making high-speed maneuvers trying to escape danger. He first tries to drive toward Sudzha, but then changes his mind and makes a U-turn to dart through the dangerous part of the highway they just passed to flee in the opposite direction. Some of the bullets apparently hit the vehicle in the process, judging by comments that he and his passenger make.
The video was apparently recorded by a phone used as a dash cam and was published on Thursday. The events reportedly occurred earlier in the day. It has released some other videos, including one apparently filmed at the same general location.
This other group of people traveling by car had to avoid mines when leaving Sudzha. They were discussing the threat of Ukrainian drones and having witnessed dead people in the streets. Their car passed multiple damaged civilian vehicles, some burned out, but they were not directly attacked.
Mikhail Podoliak, a senior aide to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, said in an interview on Thursday that Kiev’s goal was to instill fear in the Russian population hoping that it would undermine support for their government.
“Do they respond to anything but fear? No, and everyone should realize that at last,” he said.