This is the moment Ukrainian soldiers allegedly send families away from a humanitarian corridor and back to an under-siege city to use as “hostages”, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence.

The Russian authorities said the drone footage was filmed at a Ukrainian-controlled checkpoint near the city of Chernihiv in the northern region of Chernihiv Oblast.

The Russian MoD claimed today, on 11th March: “Video from a checkpoint on the outskirts of the city of Chernihiv where Ukrainian nationalists blocked the exit of a car convoy with city civilians along a (demilitarised) humanitarian corridor.

“Representatives of the nationalists (black uniforms) turn the cars around and send them back to the city.”

The Russian MoD added: “Nationalists and representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine refuse to use the humanitarian corridor for the civilian population of the city and actually turn the civilian population into hostages, hiding behind them.”

Most Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 60 have not been allowed to leave the country in case they are required to fight. If Russia’s claims about Ukrainians being turned back at military checkpoints are true, this may, in fact, explain why.

On 24th February, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” to “demilitarise and denazify” the Ukraine minutes before missiles rained on the European country.

Putin’s invasion has since caused over two million people to flee Ukraine, representing Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II.

Meanwhile, a 40-mile-long Russian military convoy is currently closing in on the Ukrainian capital Kiev in an apparent attempt to overthrow the government. However, it has remained stalled outside the city for several days.