Russian Baltic Navy Crew Practice Shooting Target With Missile Ship's Mounted Gun

This footage purports to show a Russian Navy crew practising shooting a target with their missile ship's mounted gun in the Baltic.

The footage reportedly shows the Odintsovo vessel, which is part of Russia's Baltic Fleet, underway at sea before it can be seen practising firing its main gun at mock targets.

Soldiers can then also be seen practising firing at a mock target in the water using assault rifles.

The images were obtained from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Tuesday, 13th December, along with a statement claiming: "The crew of the small missile ship (RTO) of the Baltic Fleet 'Odintsovo' during the exit to the sea carried out artillery firing at targets simulating the means of an air attack of a mock enemy.

"As part of the planned combat training event, the crew conducted training to repel attacks by mock enemy air attack weapons from various heights and directions with artillery firing.

"Special lighting projectiles were used as air targets.

"Electronic warfare equipment was activated on the ship and active and passive jamming was set. When the targets approached the line of fire, the crew of the ship carried out practical firing from the ship's AK-176MA complex."

We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a "special military operation". Today marks the 289th day of the war.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 13th December, Russia had lost about 95,260 personnel, 2,966 tanks, 5,930 armoured combat vehicles, 1,931 artillery units, 404 multiple launch rocket systems, 211 air defence systems, 281 warplanes, 264 helicopters, 1,617 drones, 592 cruise missiles, 16 warships, 4,549 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 170 units of special equipment.

Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.

Ukraine has asked Western countries to provide it with Patriot missile systems.

Denys Shmyhal, the country’s Prime Minister, has said that Western air defence systems are needed in order to counter Russian President Vladimir Putin’s missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Jan Egeland, the head of Norway’s refugee council, has said that he expects hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine to flee to Europe over the winter due to “unliveable” conditions.

He said: “Nobody knows how many, but there will be hundreds of thousands more [people leaving Ukraine] as the horrific and unlawful bombing of civilian infrastructure makes life unliveable in too many places.”

The European Union has reached an agreement to send EUR 18 billion in financial aid to Ukraine.

The EU has managed to strike a deal with Hungary after the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban blocked the deal.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked G7 leaders to hold a special global summit during the winter to bring peace to Ukraine.

Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout has become a member of the Kremlin- loyalist ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR).

The move comes after the “Merchant of Death” was freed after 14 years in US custody in a prisoner swap with American basketball player Brittney Griner.

Ivan Fedorov, the exiled mayor of Melitopol, has said that Moscow's forces are “redeploying” and “panicking” after Ukraine attacked the Russian-occupied city over the weekend.

Putin will not hold an end-of-year press conference for the first time in over 10 years, in what many consider to be a break with protocol as a result of the war in Ukraine.