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Horrifying footage appears to show Russian soldiers executing their fellow troops while they try to flee the battlefield.

In a clip captured by a Ukrainian drone, at least seven fighters can be seen running over an area of open ground towards a forest.

Some of them drop their helmets when they see three armed men in the same uniform appear from the trees.

These men are likely part of a ‘barrier unit with the mission of preventing soldiers running away from battle and using lethal force if necessary’, the Kyiv Post reports.

This alleged unit pushes two of the fleeing troops back and then fires warning shots into the air.

Several soldiers drop to the ground before trying to crawl away but their own comrades seemingly open fire on them while they are on the floor.

Once all seven figures have stopped moving, the three men appear to go from body to body, presumably checking each one is dead.

The 14-second video was first posted by Telegram channel Look for Your Own – a project set up with the backing of Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs to help the relatives of captured Russian soldiers identify them.

The Ukrainian Independent Information Agency, a local news agency, said on Monday it had confirmed the authenticity of the video.

Last November, the British Ministry of Defence said the Kremlin has ‘probably’ started using ‘barrier troops’ to block people from leaving the frontline.

This tactic was deployed by the Red Army and regularly used by Joseph Stalin during the Second World War.

A political adviser on post-Soviet and international politics, Jason Jay Smart, told Newsweek: ‘Russians shooting their own troops has a long tradition in Russian military history, and it has been commonplace throughout this war.’

Vladimir Putin’s troops are currently facing a Ukrainian counter-offensive, which has seen one of the Kremlin’s top generals killed.

Major-general Sergey Goryachev, 52, died during fighting in the Zaporizhzhia region, making him one of 11 generals to be officially classed as casualties in the war.

Just this morning, Russia suffered a major explosion at a key oil refinery inside its own borders in the city of Krasnodar.

Footage shows the diesel processing facility in flames, with thick noxious black smoke coming from it.

Krasnodar is a key link in Putin’s war effort and a hub for supplying occupied Crimea.

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Putin’s £1 billion clifftop palace, which boasts an underground bunker, pole-dancing boudoir, and vineyard, is less than 80 miles away from the blast.

The suspected drone attack was reported by local Kuban News, which said more than 130 firefighters were called to the scene.

Yesterday, Ukraine claimed it had retaken three villages in what it dubbed its first victories since the counter-offensive began.

Moscow is yet to confirm the fall of any of the villages, instead speaking of repelling Ukrainian assaults in the region.

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