This footage appears to show Russian BM-21 'Grad' multiple launch rocket systems firing at targets in Ukraine.

The images show the Russian military vehicles, which can both be seen bearing the now infamous 'Z' symbol, manoeuvring into position in a field.

The 'Z' is one of the symbols, as well as the letters 'V' and 'O' that can be seen painted on Russian military vehicles taking part in the invasion of Ukraine.

Soldiers can then be seen calibrating the targeting system on the vehicles before they unleash a salvo of missiles that shoot off into the sky. The same type of vehicle – it is unclear if they are the same ones – can then be seen driving down a dirt track before they are then apparently seen repositioned in another field.

Again, they unleash their deadly weapons, firing off into the sky, creating a massive cloud of smoke. The footage then shows the same type of vehicle firing salvos of rockets at night.

The images were released by the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Wednesday, September 7, along with a short statement claiming that they show the combat work of the crews of the MLRS 'Grad' of the Western Military District in the performance of fire missions to destroy objects and positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the zone of the special military operation.

It said: 'Having received data from artillery reconnaissance and unmanned aerial vehicle crews, the 'Grad' MLRS battery advanced, took up a firing position and struck at the identified objects of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.'

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is still calling a 'special military operation'.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between February 24 and September 7, Russia had lost about 50,610 personnel, 2,097 tanks, 4,520 armoured combat vehicles, 1,194 artillery units, 300 multiple launch rocket systems, 156 air defence systems, 237 warplanes, 208 helicopters, 880 drones, 214 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 3,320 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 109 units of special equipment.

Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower, but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.

The United Nations has called for a demilitarised zone around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest. The UN's Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has asked that the Russian forces withdraw from the nuclear power plant and that the Ukrainian forces agree not to move in on it.

Secretary-General Guterres said: 'An agreement on a demilitarised perimeter should be secured.'

He added: 'Specifically, that will include the commitment by Russian forces to withdraw military personnel and equipment from that perimeter and the commitment by Ukrainian forces not to move in.'

But Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, said: 'If we demilitarise then the Ukrainians will immediately step in and ruin the whole thing.'

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a report presented to the Security Council on Tuesday that its experts had found extensive damage at the nuclear power plant.

The Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, said that the experts had witnessed shelling near the power plant, and the report also said that Ukrainian staff working there were working under high stress and pressure.

Grossi said: 'We are playing with fire and something very, very catastrophic could take place.'

Oleksiy Arestovych, a senior adviser to Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said on Tuesday that 'parallel' counteroffensives are taking place in eastern and north-eastern Ukraine as well as in the south.

Arestovych said: 'We are advancing and pressing almost along the entire frontline.'

'He added: 'In the coming months, we can expect the defeat of the Russian army in the Kherson region on the western bank of the Dnieper and a significant advance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the east.'