Drone footage shows a Russian soldier being knocked by the RPG backblast during a battle with Ukrainian Army troops.
A Russian soldier inadvertently takes out his fellow soldier with his RPG backblast. The lucky one ended up in the so-called backblast area, a cone-shaped area behind RPG-7 launchers, where hot gases are expelled when the rocket is discharged.
Nothing is known about the condition of the soldier, on social networks they write that he died, but most likely he was seriously injured and survived.
Cases like this are not rare, it happens all the time with undertrained soldiers. Rocket launchers, with a few exceptions, all have a sizable backblast area, and in modern infantry training a significant part is devoted to giving an RPG man a wide berth, and for grenadiers themselves to always check that no one is behind.
Never stand behind the RPG-7, but …… but it’s russian army and it’s OK.
846/ pic.twitter.com/93hdRT1C6Z— (@TheDeadDistrict) August 27, 2022
The RPG-7 is a Soviet-design rocket-propelled grenade launcher, firing a range of projectiles, however, they are primarily anti-tank in nature. The RPG-7 is designed to be carried and operated by one user, ammunition is also carried by the user but can be distributed amongst the section. For firing, an expelling charge is screwed to the rocket motor base and the grenade is inserted rearwards into the launcher muzzle where a small cross‐cut screw head is mated with an index notch in the muzzle. This lines up the ignition cap with the percussion hammer. The safety pin and the fuse cover on the warhead are then removed. The hammer at the upper rear of the pistol grip is thumb‐cocked and, when the trigger is depressed, the hammer rises to strike the primer and fire the grenade.