HORRIFYING footage of a bloody knife fight between two soldiers on Ukraine’s frontline shows the moment one lay dying on the ground, praising his rival.
The graphic footage highlights the stark brutality of war and hand-to-hand combat as the Ukrainian and Russian soldiers slashed at each other in a desperate bid to survive.
East2WestShocking footage from Ukraine’s frontlines showed a bloody knife battle between a Ukrainian and a Russian soldier[/caption]
East2WestThe fight began with both soldiers firing at each other at close range before the Russian got close enough to pull out his blade[/caption]
East2WestThe entire skirmish was captured on the Ukrainian soldier’s helmet camera[/caption]
And it ends with a tragically poignant moment, with the defeated soldier lying dying in a pool of blood – and the two acknowledging each other’s bravery.
The Russian soldier – from the Yakutia region of Siberia – won the knife fight in the ruins of a blitzed building which was all captured on the helmet camera of the Ukrainian.
As the unidentified Ukrainian pleaded with his enemy to let him die alone, he saluted his Russian foe, saying: “I want to die myself. Thank you. You were the best fighter in the world.
“Goodbye, you were better.”
The Russian fighter named Tuta – also wounded in the fight – backs off and tells him: “Goodbye.”
The footage begins with both soldiers shooting at each other at close range.
It quickly became a fierce knife fight when Tuta pulled a blade on his opponent.
The hand-to-hand combat starkly contrasts many scenes from a hi-tech war featuring deadly hypersonic and precision missiles.
The defending Ukrainian could be seen grabbing the barrel of the Russian’s automatic rifle leading to a struggle in which Tuta pulled his knife and stabbed his taller foe in the thigh.
One account says: “The Ukrainian saw that the knife handle had slipped from Tuta’s palm and immediately grabbed the handle with his left hand.
“Snatching the knife out of Tuta’s hands, he immediately struck a blow to the head.
“At the last moment, Tuta managed to dodge the blow, causing the knife blade to slip close to his face and cut his ear lobe in half.”
In the video, the Ukrainian is heard angrily accusing his rival: “You came to [invade] my [Ukrainian] homeland.”
He then fell to the floor and while bleeding out he used his dying breaths to send a final message to his mother.
“That’s it, Mum, goodbye.”
As Tuta crouched over him with a bloody face and stained uniform, the Ukrainian begged him: “Wait, let me die in peace. You cut my whole body open.
“Let me catch my breath a little. It hurts a lot. Let me go quietly.”
Still with the knife in his hand, Tuta continued to kneel next to the dying soldier while also trying to recover from the fight.
Goodbye you were better.
Ukrainian soldier
The whole time the Ukrainian was clutching the clothes around Tuta’s neck, at one moment the Russian took his hand seemingly to remove it, before leaving it there.
The dying soldier then begged: “Don’t touch me [any more], stop. Let me die.
“Don’t touch me, let me die….Please go away. Thank you”
He released his grip from Tuta’s uniform and called him the “best fighter in the world” as the Russian stood up and backed away.
“Goodbye you were better,” he added while left lying in the debris of a destroyed building.
What followed was not shown in the video as the defeated Ukrainian pulled the pin on his hand grenade in an attempt to take his own life.
East2WestThe unidentified Ukrainian soldier lay dying on the floor while clutching at his enemy’s uniform for support[/caption]
East2WestWith his last breaths, he sent a final message to his mother and praised his foe[/caption]
Tuta, the Russian soldier, continued to hold the knife long after the fight was over with blood on his face and uniformEast2West
But, the explosion left him even more wounded, with his hand blown off, but still alive.
He then begged Tuta to “finish me off.”
The footage is reported to be from Trudove, in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, likely filmed in autumn but only released now.
There have been calls from Russian war channels for Tuta to be decorated for his bravery.
RECORD LOSSES
The harrowing clip comes as hopes for a peace deal between the two nations have been dashed with both sides launching major bombardments on the final day of 2024.
Huge attacks were launched on Tuesday amid reports Vladimir Putin had rejected proposals to help bring the conflict to an end.
The Institute for the Study of War has estimated that Russia lost 427,000 troops in 2024 alone while seizing 1,600 square miles of Ukrainian territory, according to Business Insider.
This is equivalent to about 40 soldiers per square mile of territory.
Russian losses are believed to have soared as the year came to a close with the Ukrainian military stating that November was a record with 45,680 Russian casualties – about 1,523 every day that month.
This is an all-time record for Russian personnel losses.
The numbers for 2024 exceed the combined losses from 2022 and 2023 as well as all Russian losses over the past three decades, the USSR and World War II combined, according to Espreso.
Last month Ukraine revealed for the first time since the conflict began that it has lost 43,000 soldiers and 370,000 have been wounded since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
In the announcement on Telegram, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “This is taking into account that in our army approximately 50 per cent of the wounded return to service, and all injuries are recorded, including minor and repeated ones.
“And let’s not forget we managed to return 3,767 warriors from Russian captivity.”
As the year drew to a close, Ukraine claimed a historic first in a blow to Putin as his Mi-8 helicopter was shot down by a Ukrainian seaborne drone.
Video showed a “Sea Dragon” missile fired from the Magura V5 drone blasting the military chopper off the coast of occupied Crimea.
It marked the first time a sea drone successfully shot down an aerial target.
East2WestThe rare footage highlights the brutality of war[/caption]
East2WestThere have been calls for Tuta from the Yakutia region to be rewarded for his bravery[/caption]
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