Ukraine’s State Border Service said its special forces killed 13 Russian troops in a recent clash in Donetsk, including one carrying a Belarusian passport.
Belarus is a staunch Moscow ally, and its territory was used to launch the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, though Minsk has not officially been a warring party.
The State Border Service shared body-cam footage in its Monday update, where it said the clashes took place in the “zone of responsibility of the 3rd Army Corps” in the Donetsk region on an unspecified date.
It said the operation involved its “Dozor” special forces unit, as well as units of the 3rd Army Corps and the “Artan” special unit from Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR).
The footage consists of clips depicting gunfights in a wooded forest, with leaves falling to the ground, suggesting they took place in autumn.
The second half of the footage consists of thermal imaging from drones, showing explosions and what appear to be Russian troops being struck.
At the end of the footage, captured equipment appears to include mobile phones, walkie-talkies and passports belonging to the deceased troops, including both a Belarusian and a Russian passport.
“As a result of the battle, 13 occupiers were eliminated. In addition, aerial reconnaissance using heavy bomber drones hit five more invaders and wounded six,” the State Border Service wrote in its update.
“Russian and Belarusian passports were found on the destroyed occupiers,” it added.
As of October, a HUR project calling for Russian troops’ surrender said 314 Belarusian nationals have died fighting for Russia, with 1,338 identified as having fought against Ukraine on behalf of Russia.
While Minsk has not officially been a warring party in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia function in many ways as a single entity, sharing an external border with minimal internal checkpoints and allowing citizens to travel and reside between the two countries via simplified procedures.
In March, both countries’ leaders allowed citizens to vote in each other’s local elections, widely seen as a sign of deepening integration.
Despite increasing signs of Belarus’s integration with Russia, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has said that his country will not be formally absorbed into Russia anytime soon.