This incredible footage shows an ammo-laden Russian army vehicle being turned to scrap in a spectacular explosion after Ukrainian forces score a direct hit on it.

The video opens with several explosions breaking out in and around a devastated settlement among fields as Ukrainian forces shell the area.

The drone filming from the sky then zooms in on a burning wreck, which appears to be a Ural-4320 general purpose off-road 6×6 vehicle daubed with a white ‘Z’.

A spectacular explosion then fills the screen as the ammo inside the vehicle detonates and debris is flung all around.

Fire then rages as a thick plume of dark smoke rises into the sky.

Newsflash obtained the footage from the 30th Independent Mechanised Brigade – a formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces – yesterday (Monday, 23rd May).

The brigade said (in Ukrainian): “The enemy vehicle ‘Ural’ with ammunition destroyed by our soldiers burns no worse than the cruiser ‘Moskva’.”

The Russian guided missile cruiser Moskva famously sunk in the Black Sea on 14th April after Ukrainian forces damaged the ship with two R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles. Russian media claimed the sinking was due to “stormy seas”.

The 30th Independent Mechanised Brigade did not specify where in Ukraine the latest strike took place.

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is now calling a “special military operation” to “protect Donbass”. Today marks the 90th day of the invasion.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) reported earlier today that Russia had lost about 29,350 troops between 24th February and 24th May.

The AFU General Staff added that Russia had also lost 1,302 tanks, 3,194 armoured fighting vehicles, 606 artillery systems, 201 multiple launch rocket systems, 93 anti-aircraft systems, 205 aircraft, 170 helicopters, 2,213 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, 13 vessels, 480 unmanned aerial vehicles, 43 units of special equipment and 112 cruise missiles over the same period.

Russian forces are currently trying to encircle the eastern cities of Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk and Rubizhne, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian troops are trying to destroy “everything living” in the embattled Donbas region, but he reiterated that his country remains willing to exchange prisoners with Russia.

And jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin in a live court hearing, calling him a “madman” who started a “stupid war” in Ukraine.