‘Ceased to Exist’ – Incredible Video Shows Explosive Ukrainian Strike in Russian-Held City

Ukraine’s military has released a video showing a massive explosion in Makiivka in the Donetsk region of Russian occupied Ukraine, after its forces targeted what it said was “another formation of Russian terrorists.”

Shot in two parts, the drone footage initially shows a derelict residential complex in daylight hours. It then switches to night time and a series of small explosions quickly followed by a giant fireball.

"As a result of precision firing by Defence Forces units, another formation of Russian terrorists in the temporarily occupied Makiivka ceased to exist," the strategic communication office of Ukraine's Armed Forces said. 

Hundreds of Russian-army green ammunition boxes were piled haphazardly in the complex’s central courtyard, video showed. Most of the boxes were sized consistent with packing for the Soviet-era 122mm Grad rocket, an inaccurate and widely-used Russian army weapon.

Among the secondary explosions were artillery rockets catching on fire and flying in random directions before detonating, sometimes hundreds of meters from the storage area, Kyiv Post video analysis showed.

Russian occupation authority forces claimed Ukraine had targeted a Makiivka residential area including a hospital and that one person was killed and another 41 injured, including two children. The videos showed no evidence of a hospital. Social media images showed the strike site to be on the outskirts of the city. 

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