Blessing Abimbola
It featured images of Russian tanks firing and tackling hurdles, as well as short interviews with the troops, who said that they were proud to protect their country and that they did not fear the expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.
One of the soldiers also praised Russian weaponry over the Germanmade Leopard 2 main battle tanks, which were recently supplied to Ukraine by the West. Our tanks are easier to handle, theyre lighter and much of the time they are better than Leopard tanks, he said.
The clip did not go unnoticed in Kiev, with Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko calling the report about the Russian military a disgrace to journalism.
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In a message on Twitter on Friday, he warned that visiting occupied territories without consent from Kiev was a crime under Ukrainian law, promising that those who participate in such actions will be held accountable.
Ukraines Ambassador to France, Vadym Omelchenko said on Twitter that the report by France 24 from the perspective of the occupiers turned out to be a bad example of socalled neutral journalism. He added that the video was removed from the news networks website.
France 24 has not issued any statement on the situation, merely deleting the video from its website.
But as of Saturday, it is no longer available, and clicking on the relevant link brings up the message 404 Page not found.
The oneandahalfminute video was shot at a training range in an undisclosed location some 30 kilometers from the front line.
However, the clip is still available on the channels page on the Dailymotion platform.
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