A 30-second clip has surfaced on YouTube that shows a Ukrainian soldier taking cover moments after his life was supposedly saved by his Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
The soldier shows his phone to the camera where it appears that the bullet has lodged itself into the phone's case, it looks like the back cover, in the middle of an active battlefield in an unknown location.
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An incredibly fortunate Ukrainian soldier has had his life potentially saved by a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra smartphone that he pulled out of his side pocket, with a bullet lodged deep into the device having gone through its outer flip cover. The video has gone viral on Youtube and Twitter, with translation of the anonymous soldier's speech from the video also crediting a dog tag that he was given, that he kept in his pocket, as saving his life along with the smartphone.
War correspondent OSINTtechnical shared the video to Twitter on 18 April 2022 where Twitter users identified the phone case from the footage as an official Samsung S-View Flip Cover Case. It's a little tricky to determine the exact model, but the lack of a curved screen, plus the large size of the device, points to it being the S21 Ultra from the limited glimpse we get in the recording.
The video was also uploaded to YouTube by Conflict Camera, which appears to be uploading regular videos documenting the current situation in the Ukraine, as well as general war-related videos, most roughly 20-40 seconds long. It's unclear as to the original source of the content, whether recorded by the channel, taken from Twitter, or submitted to the channel, though the video does include 'Location Unknown' in its title.
As to the legitimacy of the video, it is again unclear as to when this video was captured, who the soldier featured is and who the original video belongs to. While it should be taken with a pinch of salt, it's certainly not unusual for a device to stop a bullet. in 1968, famous war photographer Don McCullin's Nikon F SLR film camera was struck by an AK-47 bullet that was intended for him, saving his life also.
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It can be seen in the video that snow is falling around the soldiers, in what looks like a trench, as they take cover avoiding the gunshots that ring out nearby. This weather may be an indication of when/where the video was captured, and the soldiers speaking in the Ukrainian language is an additional indicator that it may potentially be from the current war that is happening between Russia's invasion of the Ukraine.
The bullet is thought to be a 7.62x39mm bullet that has been fired by Russian forces, (as speculated by RepublicWorld), which would have ended up in the soldier’s body likely sustaining a serious or even fatal injury from the ricochet bullet, had it not been for the smartphone residing in the perfect position of the soldier's side pocket.
Always ensure your phone is protected by a case that is rugged enough to hold its own, and act as a ballistic safeguard on the off chance that you plan on entering any dangerous situations. Thankfully this soldier is seemingly alive and well, though he probably needs a new phone.
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