Drive-by petrol bomb! Moment brave Ukrainians hurl Molotov cocktails at Russian tank from window of passing car after embattled government gave out DIY flyer on how to make weapons
- Footage shows home-made weapon launched directly at an armoured vehicle
- Call to action was sent via Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence Twitter page last week
- It urged residents to make Molotov cocktails to ‘neutralise the occupier’ in Kyiv
This is the moment brave Ukrainians hurl Molotov cocktails at a Russian tank from the window of a passing car.
Remarkable footage shows people in the car shouting abuse at Putin’s forces, before a woman throws the home-made weapon directly at the armoured vehicle.
Another angle shows the aftermath of the incident, in which flames can be seen erupting from the tank, as vehicles drive by on a dual carriageway.
Remarkable footage shows people in the car shouting abuse at Putin’s forces, before a woman throws the home-made weapon directly at the armoured vehicle
Another angle shows the aftermath of the incident, in which flames can be seen erupting from the tank, as vehicles drive by on a dual carriageway
Molotov cocktail is a generic name given to petrol bombs.
Also known as a poor man’s grenade, because of their relative ease to make, they are improvised incendiary weapons involving flammable liquid put into glass bottles.
The name was coined by the Finnish during their war with Soviet Russia in 1939 – also known as the Winter War.
It is believed they were called Molotov as a pejorative reference to Vyacheslav Molotov due to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact – a deal between Russia and Nazi Germany that saw Poland divided between the two countries and Finland into the Soviet ‘sphere of influence’.
However they were used before the Winter War, most notably in the Spanish Civil war three years earlier.
General Franco is said to have ordered his Nationalist troops to use them against Soviet tanks.
Many were made by people in Britain in the 1940s as the threat of an invasion by Nazi Germany loomed.
They are often used in riots and uprisings and, as of such, have become a symbol of revolution.
But they are illegal to make in the UK under the Explosive Substances Act.
Civilians have been encouraged in recent days to make their own petrol bombs, with President Zelensky’s embattled government even giving out a DIY flyer with instructions.
A post from the verified Twitter page of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine last week said: ‘In Obolon… We ask citizens to inform about the movement of equipment!
‘Make Molotov cocktails, neutralise the occupier! Peaceful residents – be careful! Do not leave the house!’
More footage over the weekend showed hundreds of civilians of all ages making the weapons as part of efforts to arm themselves against Russian attackers.
The Sky News report from Dnipro showed crowd of people grating up polystyrene and putting it into bottles.
The idea is that the substance would then make the cocktail stick to vehicles and other targets.
The weapons were being made according to a recipe distributed by Ukraine’s ministry of defence.
The name Molotov cocktail was coined by the Finnish during their war with Soviet Russia in 1939 – also known as the Winter War.
It is believed they were called Molotov as a pejorative reference to Vyacheslav Molotov due to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact – a deal between Russia and Nazi Germany that saw Poland divided between the two countries and Finland into the Soviet ‘sphere of influence’.
However they were used before the Winter War, most notably in the Spanish Civil war three years earlier.
General Franco is said to have ordered his Nationalist troops to use them against Soviet tanks.
Many were made by people in Britain in the 1940s as the threat of an invasion by Nazi Germany loomed.
They are often used in riots and uprisings and, as of such, have become a symbol of revolution.
But they are illegal to make in the UK under the Explosive Substances Act.
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