The Russia-Ukraine war has been anything but an isolated event. The whirlpool has sucked everything into its ambit, from economic to social warfare. Now another video is surfacing on social media showing a failed Russian air defence system missile, which Russia proudly boasts as a game-changing capability.
In the video, one can see a missile piercing through the atmosphere before it abruptly malfunctions and hurls back to the ground, near its launch site, and is reduced into ashes as a blast.
The Face Of War Telegram channel originally posted this video. Alchevsk, where the incident is said to have occurred, is in eastern Ukraine, partly occupied by pro-Russian separatists.
Inform Napalm another social media activist covering the conflict, posted numerous videos on his telegram channel covering the incident from different angles.
The speculation is that the smoke trail is evidence of the fact that a number, approximately 3 of them, had already been fired from the same launch site.
Russian language can be heard in some of the videos. What is pertinent to mention here is the fact the video is still not verified. Moreover, any information regarding injuries or casualties due to this incident is yet to reach any form of media.
Snopes, a fact-checking website, believed that other videos of generally the same area do show Russians moving around their missile launch site due to some malfunction on the original site. But again, as is the case with most news coming out of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, there is little to no evidence of whether any injury happened or if the launch site has been destroyed or partially damaged.
Another speculation about the explosion from the Telegraph is that the giant explosion was likely caused by unspent fuel blowing up on impact, as surface-to-air missiles do not carry large explosive warheads.