Russian tank driver runs for his life after tank becomes fireball in ambush by Ukrainian forces

This Russian tank driver made the luckiest of escapes after his tank was shelled by oncoming Ukrainian forces.

Two clips shared by pro-Kyiv campaigners Return Alive show members of the Ukrainian 54th Mechanized Brigade firing rockets at Russian T-72 tanks – and making direct hits.

In the first video, the T-72 is struck by what appears to be a 120 mm mortar shell – and a burst of flames erupts from the tank’s turret.

Within seconds, a tiny silhouette can be seen leaping out of the cockpit.

The Russian soldier then scurries down into what looks like a trench protected by trees.

Soon later, the tank erupts into even bigger flames – with the soldier making the narrowest of escapes.

After the twenty two-second footage ends, the Return Alive post features a second video showing another Russian tank receive mortar fire.

The first mortar shell fired by Ukrainian soldiers just misses the tank, but a second shot achieves another direct hit.

This clip ends before we see what happens to the soldiers inside – but judging by the severity of the flames, they’re unlikely to have made it out in one piece.

Return Alive’s video is just the latest glimpse at the haphazard tactics of the Russian army and Ukrainian fighters’ merciless effort to drive Putin’s forces out of their country.

Earlier today it was revealed Russian soldiers have begun eating stray dogs as they’ve become ‘sick’ of their years-old food rations.

Another group of Moscow men is seen lambasting their leadership as clueless and inept – and that Russian troops have been ‘thrown into the s**t’.

Yesterday it emerged that Ukrainian forces have been successful at killing invading Russians with their own weaponry.

President Zelensky celebrated the development and said: ‘They could not imagine such a thing in a nightmare.’ 

The Ukrainians have also bragged about seizing a secretive advanced electronic warfare system, sophisticated missiles, tanks and other armoured personnel carriers as well as rocket launchers and scores of rifles.

Yuri Butusov, a well-known Ukrainian military journalist, believes the country is gaining more tanks than it is losing. 

‘Putin is supplying Ukraine with more military hardware than the West,’ he says.

Butusov says Ukrainians have captured more than 1,000 pieces of military equipment, including at least 120 tanks, that were either undamaged or are reasonably easy to repair.

Russia is also pushing propaganda about using weapons captured from Ukraine.

Ukrainians have taken great delight in sharing thousands of videos of farmers towing away Russian tanks.

And it emerged last week that retreating Russian forces from Kyiv’s outskirts failed to destroy a Krasukha-4 command module, which can jam drones and low-orbit satellites as well as track NATO aircraft. 

The Russian military gadget be flown to the US for examination.