Astonishing footage claiming to show a Russian fighter jet blowing up a Ukrainian ammo depot in a terrifying ball of fire has been released by the Kremlin.

Newsflash obtained the footage from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) of the Russian Federation yesterday (Sunday, 27th March).

The Russian MoD said: “Crews of Su-25 attack aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces destroyed warehouses with ammunition and weapons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“The defeat of ground targets was carried out by aviation missile weapons.

“Flights for combat use were carried out at night.”

The footage begins with a fighter jet taking off into the night sky.

A missile can then be seen being launched at the apparent target, and a night-vision camera then shows the apparent target, which appears to be located in a field, being blown up in a fireball.

A plume of smoke is then seen rising from the destroyed target into the sky.

But despite the picture-perfect footage showing the warplane taking off at sunset being released by Kremlin officials, there has been no confirmation of the strike.

And the Russian MoD did not state where in Ukraine the apparent missile strike took place.

Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on 24th February, the Russian Armed Forces have managed to occupy swathes of the north, east and south of the country.

However, it is believed Russian President Vladimir Putin underestimated the Ukrainian’s resolve and the Western response, and thought he would take over the country in a matter of days.

However, the invasion is now into its second month and major cities, such as Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa, remain in Ukrainian hands.

There is also evidence the Russian Armed Forces are being pushed back in some regions, specifically around Kyiv, Kharkiv and Mykolaiv.

NATO has so far denied Ukrainian requests for a no-fly zone to be declared over Ukraine, believing it could lead to direct combat between NATO and Russia.

However, the West has been shipping numerous arms to Ukraine, which have been inflicting heavy losses on Russian forces.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Russians, as of today (Monday, 28th March), have lost “nearly 17,000 personnel, 586 tanks, 1,694 armoured combat vehicles, 302 artillery systems, 95 MLR systems, 54 air defence units, 123 aircraft, 127 helicopters, 1,150 vehicles, seven vessels, 73 fuel tank trucks, 66 UAVs of the operational and tactical-level, 21 units of special equipment, and four mobile SRBM systems”.

It should be noted that, due to the difficulties of accurately corroborating information in war zones, these figures have not been independently verified.

According to the Oryx Blog, Ukraine has had 574 military vehicles or other pieces of military equipment destroyed, damaged, abandoned or captured since the invasion began. The blog puts the figure for Russia at 1,986.

The blog only lists losses for which there is visual evidence, meaning the true figures on both sides may be even higher.

The Oryx Blog is run by “Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans, two military analysts devoted to investigating and sharing the ins and outs of conflict research, open-source intelligence and the occasional obscure piece of military history”.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has recently said that Ukraine is prepared to discuss adopting a neutral status as part of a peace deal.