The General Staff of Ukraine claimed that its forces had shot down a Russian Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military reported that the Russian attack helicopter tried to attack its position on the front line near Svatove before it was destroyed.
“Today, around 2:00 pm, a unit of the Dneprovsk anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Vostok Air Command shot down an enemy Ka-52 helicopter,” the report says.
Footage showed the moment a suspected Russian helicopter is shot down and bursts into flames above a forest.
A little later, the Kremlin-affiliated Telegram channel ‘Fighterbomber’ confirmed that the Russian Armed Forces had lost another Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter.
As noted by the Telegram channel, Ukrainian Soldiers have shot down an elite Russian helicopter crew with a lot of military decorations.
“The crew was presented with the highest award and the highest rank of the Russian Federation – the golden stars of Heroes. Posthumously,” said the ‘Fighterbomber’ channel.
On paper, the Ka-52 is one of the best attack helicopters in the world. With a top speed of 196 mph, an 18,000-foot ceiling, and a 683-mile range initially was a formidable helicopter, but the Ukrainian war showed that the Russian attack helicopters suffered from serious structural deficiencies.
According to open-source intel tracker Oryx, Russia has lost at least 27 Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters since Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine began on Feb. 24.