Moment Ukrainian troops shout ‘got him’ after blasting Russian helicopter out of the sky – as nearly 50 of Putin’s elite soldiers are killed in one day in latest battlefield coup for Kyiv
- A laser-guided air-defence system gunned down helicopter near Robotyne
This is the moment Ukrainian troops blast a Russian helicopter out of the sky while shouting, ‘got him’ in the latest battlefield coup for Kyiv.
A laser-guided Swedish-supplied RBS-70 man-portable air-defence system gunned down the helicopter from a field near the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Ukraine claims to have liberated as the counter-offensive continues.
It came as a prominent US think tank announced that nearly 50 of Vladimir Putin‘s elite soldiers were killed in one day.
A fighter is heard shouting, ‘Shoot’ in the video and seconds later a jubilant voice yells, ‘Got him…’ followed by expletives.
Smoke can be seen emanating from the helicopter as a part of the aircraft seems to split from the body before it curls into a nosedive and hits the ground.
Smoke can be seen emanating from the helicopter as a part of the aircraft seems to split from the body
Another video shows the aircraft in a heap of flames in a field with black smoke billowing into the sky. A helicopter lands in the field close to the wreckage, appearing to inspect the damage, before flying off
Another video shows the aircraft in a heap of flames in a field with black smoke billowing into the sky. A Russian transport helicopter lands in the field close to the wreckage, appearing to inspect the damage, before flying off.
Ukraine’s troops have likely pinned down some of Russia’s elite soldiers in Donetsk, stopping them from redeploying to a key part of the frontline, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said.
Some 49 soldiers of the 7th VDV Division were killed in one day of fighting near the village of Staromayorske, with Russian command reportedly not overseeing the retrieval of bodies, the US think tank said, citing a Russian military blogger who posted an audio recording purportedly from a Russian soldier.
The ISW said in its daily update: ‘Ukrainian counteroffensive operations in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area are likely succeeding in pinning elements of the 7th Guards Mountain Airborne (VDV) Division and preventing them from laterally redeploying to critical areas of the front in western Zaporizhia Oblast.’
The navigator ‘was unable to leave the aircraft and heroically died with his combat [Ka-52]’, reported military blogger Kirill Fedorov.
After the helicopter was shot it it curled into a nosedive and hit the ground
The helicopter burning in the field near the village of Robotyne, which Ukraine claims to have liberated as the counter-offensive continues.
Footage shows a helicopter lands in the field close to the wreckage, appearing to inspect the damage, before flying off
‘Immediately after the crash of the helicopter at the site moved an Mi-28, which surveyed the area, established the location of the survivor and sent a signal for evacuation,’ said the channel.
‘A short time later, a transport helicopter landed on the field and picked up the pilot.’
The video of the Ka-52 being follows a downing last month in which the pilot was reported to have escaped alive.
The Ka-52 is unusual for a helicopter as it features an ejector facility and the pilot was reported to have successfully bailed out of the aircraft using this feature.
Russia is believed to have lost nine Ka-52 strike helicopters in the war with Ukraine.
The Ka-52 Alligator is an all-weather attack helicopter operated by the Russian Air Force.
It is a highly manoeuvrable aircraft that can destroy enemy armoured and unarmoured ground targets, tanks, low-speed aerial targets and personnel at the frontline and in tactical depth.
Russia has seen 42 Ka-52 Alligators destroyed or damaged since February last year, according to intelligence defence analysis website Oryx.
In June, Colonel Yuriy Ignat, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, downplayed the threat from Russian attack helicopters during the counter-offensive
‘The Ka-52 is absolutely not a helicopter that establishes air superiority,’ Ignat said.
He also argued it did not it deliver ‘the kind of firepower that is decisive on the battlefield’.
Geolocated footage posted yesterday shows Russian forces striking Ukrainian positions northwest and west of Robotyne, indicating that Ukrainian forces have advanced into an area near the settlement that Russian forces previously claimed to control, the ISW said in its daily update.
The Ka-52 Alligator is an all-weather attack helicopter operated by the Russian Air Force (File Photo)
A laser-guided Swedish-supplied RBS-70 man-portable air-defence system gunned down the helicopter from a field near the village of Robotyne
Ukraine claims to have liberated Robotyne, around six miles south of the front-line town of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region.
A Russian-appointed official has acknowledged that Moscow’s forces have abandoned the Ukrainian village of Robotyne, more than a week after Kyiv announced its recapture.
Yevgeny Balitsky, the top Moscow-installed official in the Zaporizhzhia region, said in a television interview that the Russian army had withdrawn for what he called tactical reasons.
‘The Russian army abandoned – tactically abandoned – this settlement because staying on a bare surface when there is no way to completely dig in… doesn’t generally make sense. Therefore the Russian army moved off into the hills,’ news outlet RBC quoted him as saying.
Russia has not previously acknowledged the loss of Robotyne, whose recapture was announced by Ukraine on August 28.
In its daily update yesterday, the Russian Defence Ministry said its forces had repelled two Ukrainian attacks near Robotyne.
More than 18 months after Russia’s invasion, Ukraine says it is gaining ground and has broken through Russia’s first line of fortifications in several places on the front line, despite repeated statements from Moscow that Ukraine’s three-month-old counter-offensive has been a failure.
Meanwhile, top US diplomat Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv today in a gesture of support as Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces grinds into its fourth month with only small gains.
During his two-day visit, staying overnight in Ukraine for the first time since before Russia’s February 2022 invasion, Blinken will likely announce a new package of US assistance worth more than $1 billion, a senior State Department official said in a briefing for reporters on the trip.
Blinken, on the first trip to Kyiv by a top US official since the Ukrainian counter-offensive began, is expected to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba among other senior officials as well as civil society figures, the official said.
Media reports have cited unidentified US officials as saying the counter-offensive has been too slow and hindered by poor tactics, criticism that angered Ukrainian officials and prompted Kuleba to tell critics to ‘shut up’.
A Ukrainian serviceman looks at a destroyed Ukrainian tank, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, near the village of Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 25, 2023
Ukrainian servicemen ride a tank, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, near the village of Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 25, 2023
A Ukrainian serviceman operates an FPV drone from his positions at a front line, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, near the village of Robotyne, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 25, 2023
Ukraine has retaken more than a dozen villages and small settlements in its offensive but its soldiers’ push into Russian-held territory has been slowed by vast minefields and miles of trenches.
US officials have been careful not to publicly criticise Ukraine’s military tactics, and last week said they had observed notable Ukrainian progress in the previous 72 hours of its push in the southeast.
Meanwhile, a Russian drone attack earlier today on the Danube port of Izmail in the Odesa region killed one person and damaged infrastructure, the region’s governor said on the Telegram messaging app.
During the nearly three-hour attack, several agricultural and port facilities were damaged and several fires recorded, said Oleh Kiper, the governor.
Ukrainian forces downed 17 Russian drones over the Odesa region overnight into Monday.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday that the attacks had taken place ‘very, very close’ to his country’s border.
Also overnight, Kyiv came under missile attack but there were no casualties, authorities said.
Russian aircraft fired cruise missiles at the Ukrainian capital while another missile type also targeted the city, Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, wrote on Telegram.
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