Russian soldier who hurled away drone grenades identified

The Russian soldier who became famous for throwing away grenades that were dropped on him from a Ukrainian drone is an infantryman from the Leningrad region. The authorities of the region said that they were proud of his courage.

The video of the Russian soldier lying down in a trench and throwing away several grenades with his bare hands went viral on the Internet. The Telegraph, which published the video on its YouTube channel, closed comments after readers started admiring Russian soldier's courage.

Until recently, it was unknown whether the man stayed alive.

On Wednesday, TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov said that the video was filmed near the village of Malaya Rogan in the spring of this year.

The man in the video was named as Alexei S. — a fighter of the 138th motorized rifle brigade. He survived.

After pulling the pin, the fuse fires in about 3.2-4.2 seconds. This time is enough for the person who throws the grenade not to be killed. The Russian soldier had mere seconds to hurl the grenades away to stay alive.

"We are proud of the courage and the reaction of our fellow countryman — infantryman Alexei from the 138th motorized rifle brigade stationed in the village of Kamenka, Vyborgsky district of the Leningrad region. We thank the commanders for training! We wish great military luck to all the fighters of the brigade," the press service of the government of the Leningrad Region said.