Russia shoots down its own Ka-52 helicopter over Ukraine

Russian troops appear to have shot down one of its own Ka-52 attack helicopters involved in Russia’s wider war in Ukraine.

The Ukraine Weapons Tracker OSINT group reports that Russian air-defense troops shot down a Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter in the Zaporizhzhia region.

“A Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter (RF-91335, 43 Yellow, formerly 43 White) was reportedly shot down by a Russian Pantsir-S1 in a friendly fire incident in Zaporizhzhia Oblast,” the group said on Wednesday.

Russian media reports that the crew survived,

According to open-source intel tracker Oryx, Russia has lost at least 28 Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters since Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine began on Feb. 24.

Russia is visually confirmed to have lost over 25% of its total operational Ka-52 helicopter fleet, according to the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD).