This footage reportedly shows a Ukrainian BUK-M1 surface-to-air anti-aircraft missile system shooting down a Russian Ka-52 'Alligator' attack helicopter.

The footage shows the Ukrainian BUK-M1 firing one of its missiles that then shoots off into the air and eventually hits an indistinguishable target in the distance.

Ukrainian authorities said it was a Russian Ka-52 'Alligator' attack helicopter.

The images were released by the Air Force Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, on Wednesday, September 7, along with a statement saying that the images show ‘the downing of a Russian Ka-52 'Alligator' attack helicopter by a BUK-M1 anti-aircraft missile unit of the 'Centre' Air Command in the Kherson region on September 7 at around 8:30 am.'

They added: ‘Death to the enemies!'

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 northeastern 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.'