Watch this shocking video of an annihilated Russian armored convoy

As Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth month, Raw Story is highlighting one of the most amazing videos out of the war, an amazing video CNN aired that depicted a Russian armored convoy that had been annihilated early on during Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

"Right within the past few hours there has been a ferocious battle here on the outskirts of Kyiv," CNN's Matthew Chance reported in late February. "And this is one of those Russian, Soviet-era vehicles, which is completely burned out."

"You can see this is a bridge actually. There's an access point to the northwest of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital and the Russian column that has come down here has been absolutely hammered," he reported.

He reported Ukrainian commanders said they had been using western anti-tank missiles to attack Russian troops.

"Obviously we're still in a very exposed situation right now. There is debris everywhere, the twisted metal of these vehicles. This is obviously just a truck carrying supplies. We saw the armored vehicle in front there. I mean, looking around -- look at this what kind of munitions does it take to do that to a car, to a vehicle? You know, I know that I've been speaking to the local Ukrainian commanders here, they've been saying they were using western anti-tank missiles to attack these columns."

"Look, so recent the battle, this vehicle is still smoking," he reported. "There's still smoke coming out of the back of that, ammunition boxes on the ground," he reported. "A real scene of devastation along this bridge."

New weapons making a difference

As the war turns into August, Russia has been leaning on more brutal weapons, including "Heatwave," its thermobaric rocket system that sprays flammable material into the air and then ignites it. The resulting giant fireball is highly destructive.

“For days in a row now, the enemy has not let up on attempts to attack,” Vitaliy Barabash, the Ukrainian military governor of Avdiivka, remarked to Radio Liberty, according to the New York Times. “Everywhere is being hit by artillery and aviation” bombs.

“People are living in horrible, inhuman conditions,” Barabash added. “Every day, the city is shelled about 20 times.”

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian side has gained a slight edge with the American-made weapon HIMIARS, a long-range rocket launcher that can hit ammunition stockpiles far behind the Russian lines. Russia has now diverted about 10,000 soldiers to defend its more southern positions in Ukraine.

US says Russia will fake scene around mass POW deaths to blame Ukraine

Also Thursday, a US official accused Moscow of preparing to plant fake evidence to make it look like the recent mass killing of Ukrainian prisoners in an attack on a Russian-controlled prison was caused by Ukraine.

Kyiv and Moscow have traded blame over the strikes on the prison in Kremlin-controlled Olenivka in eastern Ukraine, which Russia said took place overnight on July 29.

On Thursday the US official, who asked not to be named, said that intelligence reports show Russia will doctor the scene at the prison ahead of the possible visits by outside investigators.

"We expect that Russian officials are planning to falsify evidence in order to attribute the attack on Olenivka Prison on 29 July to the Ukrainian Armed Forces," the official told AFP, without sharing the evidence. "We anticipate that Russian officials will try to frame (Ukraine's military)... in anticipation of journalists and potential investigators visiting the site of the attack."

More than 50 soldiers died in the incident, including troops who had surrendered after weeks of defending the Azovstal steel works in Mariupol. Russia claimed Ukraine carried out a strike on its own captured fighters, while Ukrainian authorities accuse Russia of covering up a deliberate massacre.

With AFP.