Video shows 2 workers defusing unexploded bomb in Ukrainian city under Russian attack, using bottled water and very steady hands

• Ukrainian authorities released video of a bomb being defused in the city of Chernihiv.
• It shows workers pouring water over what appears to be the nose of a bomb, while twisting a fuse.

Ukrainian authorities released a video that appears to show the defusing of a bomb in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, after a Russian attack.

In the footage, two workers crouch over what appears to be a massive bomb lying amongst rubble. One gently twists a fuse-like object in the nose of the bomb, while another pours bottled water over the place where the nose and the fuse meet.

In the course of 36 tense seconds — while birds tweet innocuously in the background — the fuse is removed and the workers cautiously step away.

The footage was posted to Facebook by the official account of the Ukraine State Emergency Services, which said that this was one of 22 defusing missions undertaken by its workers that day in the city.

The bomb resembles the FAB-500 bombs regularly employed by the Russian air force. They weigh about 500kg each. Amnesty International said that it had seen evidence of FAB-500s being used on the city.

A bomb disposal expert describing the video to the BBC said that it would require extreme circumstances to risk defusing a bomb by hand.

"Essentially what he is doing in that video is he's removing the fusing unit from the nose of the munition itself," Kim Hughes said. He noted that the water "might be to reduce friction and any kind of vibration into the fuse itself."

Insider was unable to verify the footage, or two photographs that were published alongside the video.

One photo shows a worker kneeling amid the ruins of a building holding the tip of a bomb that is broken into half. Another shows two workers standing amidst widespread destruction.

Chernihiv has rebuffed one Russian attempt at capture and has faced ongoing bombardment, according to The New York Times. Its mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko saying as of Wednesday that the city is surrounded, the paper reported.

"During the last few days Chernihiv is being under violent severe bombings of Russian fighting aircrafts," the mayor said, per The Times. "Up to 17 bombings per day."

On Sunday Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba shared a photo of a similar-looking unexploded bomb in Chernihiv.

—Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 6, 2022