The Stormer Combat Vehicles will be a blow to Russia's attempts at low-flying attacks ( Image: Crown Copyright)
The Stormer Combat Vehicles will be a blow to Russia's attempts at low-flying attacks ( Image: Crown Copyright)

Dramatic footage shows a Russian soldier sticking his middle finger up at a Ukrainian drone moments before it drops a grenade on the tank he is standing next to.

The blast can be seen turning the tank into a blazing wreck as Ukrainian forces continue to make a defiant stand in the east of the country, The Sun reports.

Ukrainian officials have quoted Russia’s current losses during the invasion at 30,000 troops and 1,330 tanks.

In the footage released by Ukrainian forces, the drone carries out an attack on a Russian BTR-82A APC, which is being concealed at the side of a building.

Six Russian troops are converged around the vehicle, with one of them looking up as the drone zooms in before sticking his finger up in the direction of the craft.

The drone then unleashes a grenade at the tank, causing it to burst into flames.

Vladimir Putin has now lost 30,000 troops, 1,330 tanks, 207 planes and 174 helicopters during the war, according to Ukrainian officials.

Despite such heavy losses and their attempt to take Kyiv being thwarted, Putin’s forces have been making progress in the eastern Donbas region.

Russia could potentially add millions more soldiers after Putin scrapped the age limit of those who can be called up to fight his war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin previously only admitted Russians aged between 18 and 40 to fight in its armed forces and foreigners aged 18-30.

But such is the toll of the brutal war in Ukraine that he has paved the way for older professional soldiers to take up arms.

The move is being presented as recruiting more “technical specialists”, rather than a desperate move to boost soldiers numbers.

State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said: “Today, especially, we need to strengthen the armed forces and help the Ministry of Defence.

“Our Supreme Commander is doing everything to ensure our armed forces win, and we need to help.”

Having been pushed back from the Ukrainian capital, Russian troops have made gains in the east where they are reportedly launching “hunt to kill” missions in a bid to purge the area of regional leaders.

Ukrainian officials in eastern areas are being kept constantly on the move in order to avoid death squads as Russia has been making advances in the Donbas region, taking the city of Lyman.

A police chief in the Luhansk region of the Donbas has compared the offensive to the ‘Red Terror’ carried out by the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia between 1918 and 1922.

“Heads of local administration, including myself, we are constantly on the move,” Chief Oleg Grigorov said.

“The Russians are hunting for our heads, be it capture or outright liquidation.”