It could be gruesome footage from a grim FPS video game as troops inch through deadly territory surrounded by burned-out tanks and bodies.

But it is all too real and a fact of life for Ukrainian troops playing cat-and-mouse combat games with invading Russian troops.

The footage starts with a tank powering its way through wrecked and burned-out vehicles, its turret wheeling around to find targets.

After firing off a shell the image shifts to a burned-out tank, apparently destroyed by the Ukrainian firepower.

In the next scene – taken from a soldier’s body camera – troops fire machine guns into tree cover before the video cuts to at least two dead Russian soldiers in a trench.

The action-packed clip then shows a gunner firing from a mounted machine gun on a jeep before several burned-out vehicles are seen flaming by the side of the road.

The patrol then finds a hoard of missiles and ammo before the Ukrainian troops return to base after a hard day on the battlefield.

The 92nd Mechanized Brigade, named after Cossack military leader Ivan Sirko, a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, said on May 12: “Piece by piece, village by village, together with our brothers and sisters, we are reclaiming our homeland, which is why there is no price in the whole world!”

Along with the uplifting video footage, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said defending soldiers are slowly pushing Russian invaders away from the north-eastern city of Kharkiv.

Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 78th day of the campaign.

From February 24 to May 12, the total combat losses of Russian troops stand at around 26,650 personnel, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military also claims that Russia has lost 1,195 tanks, 2,873 armoured fighting vehicles, 534 artillery systems, 191 multiple launch rocket systems, 87 anti-aircraft systems, 199 warplanes, 161 helicopters, 2,019 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, 13 vessels, 398 unmanned aerial vehicles, 41 units of special equipment and 94 cruise missiles.

This week, Vladimir Putin addressed a military parade on Red Square to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany at the hands of the Soviet Union in World War II, and claimed the “special military operation” in Ukraine was necessary and provoked by the West.