This is the dramatic moment Ukrainian troops blasted an Iranian-made drone out of the sky with seconds to spare using a machine-gun mounted on a 4×4 as the Russian weapons headed straight for them.

Video shows soldiers with spotlights and a heavy machine-gun firing rounds into the night sky as a Shahed kamikaze drone swoops in towards them.

The clip, filmed near Odessa last night, captures the moment the drone’s engines finally give in before the device erupts into a huge fireball as it crashes into the ground.

A military spokesperson said: ‘As a result of the air battle, 10 Shahed UAVs were destroyed within the Odessa and Mykolaiv regions by mobile fire groups of the Defence Forces and anti-aircraft missile units of the Air Force.’

The drones were said to have come in from the direction of the Black Sea.

The pickup technical appears with a mounted machine-gun as a drone swoops in

Ukrainian soldiers light up the night sky with tracer rounds, taking out the drone

The drone erupts in a huge fireball as it explodes and crashes into the ground

Last Friday, Russian drones attacked the city for the second night in a row, hitting a residential building, killing one person and injuring three.

In all, six people died and 12 were injured in various Ukrainian regions over 24 hours.

Ukrainian air defences shot down 23 of 31 Russian-launched drones over five regions, the air force said.

Russia has hammered Black Sea ports with strikes since leaving a deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain to world markets through Odessa, near Moldova, in July last year.

In late September, it was reported a drone attack had damaged a warehouse, charred dozens of trucks and injured two drivers.

Explosions led to the suspension of the ferry service between Ukraine and Romania to the southeast.

In August, another drone strike struck grain storage facilities and port infrastructure in the region, according to the Ukrainian military.

Six Iranian-made Shahed drones swarmed an oil deport in Izmail, starting a fire that caused damage to facilities that transport crucial grain exports.

Grain exports have been severely disrupted since the start of the war, with Russia’s navy blockading the Black Sea ports. 

This immediately caused global food prices to spike, hitting Middle Eastern and African countries most reliant on Ukrainian exports.

After Russia left the deal in July 2023, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield assessed that Russia would ultimately ‘have to return to the [Black Sea Grain Initiative]’ if it wants to be able to export its products, like fertiliser.

But seven months on, the pressure on Odessa shows no signs of waning, with devastating consequences for Ukraine and countries reliant on its exports.

Only yesterday, Ukrainian President Zelensky warned that his country would be unable to continue defending the replacement corridor near Romania and Bulgaria, which was launched last August after Russia left the Initiative, without US support.

Ukraine is currently on track to export all the grain from its 2023 harvest despite repeated Russian attacks on its ports, but warns if the US does not approve its new $60bn aid package, it might not be able to guarantee safe passage.

Last night’s strike came amid mounting fears Russian forces could use Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria to open a new front in the southwest in the direction of Odessa.

The thin slither of land has been de facto controlled by pro-Russian forces since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but is internationally recognised as part of Moldova.

Rebel officials in the region today appealed to Russia for ‘protection’, the rebels accusing the government in Chisinau of unleashing an ‘economic war’ on the region to turn it into a ‘ghetto’.

Russia responded that one of its ‘priorities’ was to protect Transnistria from mounting pressure, raising concerns it could develop into a new flashpoint for the war in Ukraine as the invaders continue their attacks on Odessa in the southwest.

Currently, the Kremlin only has around 1,500 soldiers permanently stationed in the region.

A serviceman of Ukraine’s coast guard surveys the waters from a patrol boat as a cargo ship passes by in the Black Sea, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, February 7, 2024

A cargo ship passes a patrol boat of Ukraine’s cost guard in the Black Sea, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, February 7, 2024

A view of the damaged naval station on February 24, 2024 in Odesa, Ukraine

Damage to a college building following a drone attack in Odesa, on February 8, 2024

Emergency services workers sift through the rubble after a drone attack overnight struck an infrastructure facility causing a fire February 23, 2024 in Odesa, Ukraine

Transnistria’s pro-Russian leadership, for its part, accuses Kyiv of plotting an attack on the territory.

The separatists claimed to have foiled an assassination attempt on their leader in March 2023. Kyiv denied the allegations.

And last week, Russian defence ministry alleged that Ukraine planned an armed incursion into the breakaway territory, without providing any evidence.

The Kremlin has warned Ukraine and Moldova that attacking them would incur serious consequences.