File image.
Two Ukrainian Mi-8/17 military helicopters were destroyed and a third was damaged as a result of a recent Russian attack in the Donetsk direction.
The helicopters were detected by Russian “aerial reconnaissance systems” while they were at a covert airfield near the frontline, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement on March 13, noting that Kiev forces have been using the airfield to refuel and rearm their helicopters.
The ministry released video footage of the attack on the helicopter, which began with a cluster munition strike possibly from a Tornado-S 300 mm multiple rocket launch system. Despite taking damage, one of the helicopters apparently managed to take off. The remaining two on the ground were later targeted with precision-guided missiles, most likely Kh-38s launched from Su-34 fighter bombers.
On March 12, the 12th Army Aviation Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, which operates Mi-8/17 helicopters, mourned two of its pilots.
The pilots were not likely killed in the Russian missile strikes as both helicopters destroyed on the ground appeared to have been abandoned. It is possible however that the slain pilots were flying the third helicopter that managed to take off. The helicopter may have crashed due to damage from the cluster munitions, or shot down soon after fleeing.
Kiev forces operate more than 70 Soviet-made Mi-8, two of which were donated by Lithuania after the start of the Russian special military operation more than two years ago. During the same period, some 28 Russian-made Mi-17s were also supplied to Ukraine by the United States, Latvia and Slovakia.
In addition to the helicopters lost in recent days, last week a MiG-29 fighter jet of the Ukrainian Air Force crashed near the city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk direction. At the time, some news sources said that the Ukrainian MiG-29 was shot down by a Russian fighter jet, allegedly a Su-35, while others reported that the crash was the result of a friendly-fire incident. The pilot was killed in the incident.
Despite receiving much support from its allies, especially NATO states, Ukraine’s aerial capabilities remain ineffective in the face of the Russian military.
nazi, the dance of the vampires, abrams, leos etc. is over. it’s now time for you to choose: capitulation or death. choose wisely.
i think they chose burning heliorotocopters.
path to peace or path to pieces?
ukraine could have been a nice federal state living up to eu standards, bogus though that they are, and respecting the rights of all of its citizens but it chose to go full fascist, fulfilling bandera’s dream.
now it’s paying the price. well, that’s a shame. it’s the way noodleman’s cookies crumbled i guess..
doesn’t matter what they choose now, what they gonna get is khinzal pizza delivery… nice touch, using a cluster munition to ‘ring the doorbell’ before pizza delivered.
western vampires have already divided russia on paper but they will be profoundly dissapointed as russians consistently craft new silver bullets
ukronazi helicopter rotors can be bent back straight. no problem, new paint job good as new…
a little body putty and good as new!
i worship money–no morality inferior to russian—please send me glue help me cope
my gonad removal surgery help cope dementia
precision-guided missiles is key and stealth surveillance long range monitoring ground. i am amazed that ukkies still have copters left.
croatia donated helicopters as well.
ahhahahaa………..
i think they also donated, along with the pentagram. the idea of an operation storm 2.0 to take back the donbass but nobody bothered to tell them the donbass ain’t krajina and russia ain’t serbia.
serbs donated ‘plamen’ mlrs too. them croroaches are known cowards.
it surprises me how ineffective the hail is, neither the tanker nor the helicopters explode from the shrapnel and the soldiers on the tarmac run as if nothing had happened. then missiles arrive that instead do their job very well.
2 of the 3 mi8’s were abandoned, obviously they were no longer flight worthy, or the cluster munition scared off the refueling team, so the other 2 never got refilled, and made easy high value targets… the helicopters and the tanker are lightly armoured, you are aware of that right?