Russian soldier cheats death by THROWING his assault rifle at Ukrainian drone, triggering its explosives, a split second before it would have killed him

This is the moment a Russian soldier narrowly escaped death by aiming his assault rifle at a Ukrainian drone that would have killed him in a split second.

Footage captured by another drone shows two Russian soldiers fighting for their lives on the front lines of Russia’s 30-month invasion of Ukraine.

The small FPV drone circled menacingly around the two soldiers, who both fired at it frantically.

While one man tried to get some distance from the drone, the other remained in place and continued shooting at it.

The soldier turned around once more and threw his rifle at the drone. The explosives went off a fraction of a second too early, causing the drone to barely survive.

The soldier turned again and threw his rifle at the drone, detonating the explosives a split second too early.

The small FPV drone was seen circling menacingly around the two soldiers, who both fired at it frantically.

The invasion of Ukraine has forced the country to adapt its military capabilities, making it heavily reliant on drone warfare.

Ukraine unleashed more than 140 drones on Russia overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, authorities said, killing a woman near Moscow. Aircraft were also grounded and anti-aircraft fire was deployed in several parts of the country.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it had shot down 144 Ukrainian drones overnight — “72 UAVs over the Bryansk region, 20 over the Moscow region, 14 over the Kursk region, 13 over the Tula region” and another 25 over five other parts of the country.

Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov reported in a Telegram post that a 46-year-old woman was killed and several people were injured when an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) damaged at least two high-rise apartment buildings in the Ramenskoye district of the Moscow Region, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of the Kremlin.

Video footage of the attack shows flames shooting from the windows of a multi-story apartment building, with dozens of apartments badly damaged.

“I looked at the window and saw a fireball,” Alexander Li, a resident of the district, told Reuters. “The window was blown out by the shock wave.”

The attack is one of the largest drone strikes on Russia since the beginning of the war.

As a result of the attack, four airports serving Moscow – including the major hubs Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo – had cancelled or delayed flights on Tuesday morning, state media said.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin confirmed that a fire had broken out on the runway of Zhukovsky Airport, caused by falling debris from a crashed drone.

An important road to the capital was also partially closed.

A terrified resident told Shot Media: ‘I saw a fireball [and] managed to cover my wife.

“It was just a second, a bang and the window was blown out. We were all scared and ran away in panic.”