Russian soldier's goofy selfies may prove country's direct involvement in Ukraine

A Russian soldier's goofy selfies posted online may have proved that his country's military is operating in eastern Ukraine illicitly.

Alexander "Sanya" Sotkin, 24, has posted photographs on Instagram of himself wearing a military uniform pulling faces and appearing to sit in an armoured personnel carrier.

Unknown to him, his iPad automatically geotagged him with GPS coordinates, with Buzzfeed revealing that he was actually in Ukraine on July 5.

Buzzfeed reported Sotkin was in the village of Krasna Derkul on the same day Ukraine reported mortar strikes on border positions.

Five days ago Sotkin posted another image in which he claimed to be inside a Buk missile launcher, the same piece of weaponry believed to be responsible for the MH17 plane crash.

"Sitting around, working on a Buk, listening to music, basically a good Sunday," he wrote alongside images of him posing.

Buzzfeed writes that Instagram's geolocating tool is highly accurate.