The insane clip of a recruit who almost kills his leader comes as Putin’s “meat grinder” toll tops 350,000. This is the insane moment a rookie Russian trooper is flung from a machine gun turret during training and almost kills his instructor.
The viral clip shows what appears to be a nervous Russian soldier preparing to fire a YakB-12.7 helicopter machine gun that was fixed on a stand.
The soldier pulls the trigger and is immediately spun around the turret before letting go and being flung out of view.
The machine gun eventually stops firing and comes to a standstill and a man, who appears to be an instructor, resurfaces. Other soldiers come to check on him and laughter can be heard in the background.
The video from July 12, 2026, captures a YakB-12.7 machine gun, originally from Soviet Mi-24 helicopters, losing control during a Russian training exercise due to an unstable truck mount.
The gun’s extreme recoil and rapid fire rate caused the barrel to rotate wildly, but both the gunner and supervisor escaped unharmed. It spotlights the risks of adapting aviation weapons for ground anti-drone defenses amid Ukraine war pressures, drawing reactions from memes to expert analysis on needed stabilizers.
The clip comes as Russian casualties in Ukraine continue to mount.
Russian casualty figures are not made public but a study by Mediazone, an independent Russian media outlet, found more than 350,000 Russian troops had been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war in 2022.
Moscow has long been trying to fill its military ranks after sustaining unprecedented casualty rates.
In May, Russian president Vladimir Putin signed a decree offering debt relief for new military sign-ons and an easier pathway to citizenship for wannabe citizens living in Transnistria, according to the ABC.
People who signed a contract with Russia’s defence ministry from May 1 would have debts of up to 10 million roubles (AU$186,869) wiped, according to a decree posted on the Kremlin’s website.
Russian security affairs academic at the University College London Mark Galeotti said at the time Russia could not recruit soldiers fast enough.
“The financial cost is unsustainable, as is the human cost — Russia cannot replace recruits fast enough to keep the meat grinder fed,” he said.
He suggested Mr Putin may be forced to launch another mass mobilisation campaign to conscript Russian citizens.
It comes as Russia struck Ukraine with missiles, drones and guided bombs on Saturday, July 11, killing eight people and wounding dozens of others, officials said.
Missiles also hit the capital Kyiv, wounding 12 people including two children, according to the city’s mayor.
AFP journalists in Kyiv heard two series of explosions in the early hours, with an air alert siren sounding minutes after the first blast.
Moscow has been firing missiles and drones at Kyiv almost daily since launching its invasion in February 2022.
But a recent spate of deadly attacks using dozens of ultra-fast ballistic missiles has put Ukraine’s air-defence system under strain.
Russia launched more than 120 drones and 12 missiles during the night, half of them ballistic, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X.
“Civilian infrastructure was hit even before the air raid alert was issued,” he added.
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