Video shows Ukrainian soldiers taking out a Russian aircraft with a missile in a critical area of its counteroffensive

• A Ukrainian brigade released footage of a Russian plane being shot down on Monday.
• The footage was taken near Robotyne, which Ukrainian troops have recently retaken.

A Ukrainian brigade fighting on the southern frontline released a video of one of its soldiers shooting a Russian military aircraft out of the sky.

In the footage, shared on Monday, the camera scans over fields before cutting to the moment of impact, with a billow of smoke before the plane begins to plummet.

A helicopter, which was nearby, approaches the puff of smoke that rises about the wreckage before the camera cuts to a flaming mass on the ground.

The footage was shared by the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, which has gained recognition for its ability to take out Russian aircraft.

The brigade claimed in a recent Telegram post to have shot down eight Ka-52 attack helicopters and one Su-25 jet.

This would amount to $139 million of damage, it said.

Several further clips in the released footage show how the soldiers took down the Russian aircraft, with one soldier celebrating as the missile strikes the plane.

In the footage, the man operates what appears to be an RBS-70, a portable air-defense weapon provided to Ukraine by Sweden.

Per CNN, the footage was taken near Melitopol, a strategic hub in Zaporizhzhia that Ukrainian forces have set their sights on reaching.

It's unclear how close to the city the troops were — as of last week, the 47th Brigade had taken the village of Robotyne, some 45 miles north of Melitopol.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the 47th in mid-August, underscoring the importance of the brigade and this theater of war to the country's ongoing counteroffensive.

Melitopol is a key goal for Ukraine, with Robotyne forming a strategic stepping-stone in its direction.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War think tank, citing geolocated footage, assessed that Ukrainian forces had advanced south of the town as of Tuesday.

In the retaking of Robotyne, the soldiers evacuated six civilians using a Bradley infantry fighting vehicle while under fire from Russian troops, a crew commander told CNN.