Video shows a burning Russian convoy as Kiev thwarts a “battalion-sized” attack

Russian military vehicles burst into flames after an attack by Kiev soldiers, according to the Ukrainian military, which released video footage of the alleged battle.

The Ukrainian Air Force posted on Facebook that its soldiers managed to repel a 50-man column of Russian equipment. Newsweek has not yet verified the details of the footage and has emailed the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.

The independent U.S.-based think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said Friday that Ukrainian forces repelled “an intensified battalion-sized Russian mechanized attack toward Kupiansk,” the first mechanized attack along the line since last winter .

A two-minute video showed aerial footage of military vehicles burning in an open field and smoke billowing into the sky.

In the post accompanying the clip, the Ukrainian military said that Russian forces attempted to storm the positions of Ukraine’s 77th Air Mobile Brigade and the National Guard in two separate operations.

“However, even with such strong forces, the enemy units were unsuccessful,” the post said, adding that Ukraine’s paratroopers and National Guardsmen managed to “defeat the enemy and push them back to their starting positions.”

The post added that two tanks, two armored personnel carriers and an infantry fighting vehicle were destroyed in the Russian attack, “and those that remained managed to escape in panic.”

“The enemy column that attacked the positions of the soldiers of the National Guard of Ukraine also suffered a setback,” the post said, according to a translation.

The ISW said footage of damaged Russian armored vehicles crowded together suggested Moscow forces attacked in dense columns. They blocked when the Ukrainian fire units began to strike, which “commonly occurs in failed Russian mechanized attacks.”

The Washington, DC-based think tank also provided additional details about the site. It said Ukrainian forces were operating near the village of Pishchane, southeast of Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast, after Russian forces attacked directly on the Oskil River, where Moscow is trying to make gains.

Ukrainian military sources said Russian forces had been pushed back to their starting positions near Pishchane, while the ISW said geolocated footage suggested Moscow forces had made no progress during the attack.

Ukrainian officials said on Saturday that Russian forces launched an attack on a hospital in the northeastern city of Sumy, killing nine people and wounding 12.

A first attack hit the hospital, while a second attack occurred as rescuers and police arrived to carry patients to safety in what Russia called a “double-tap” attack, said Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s interior minister.