Ukraine shoots down Russian attack helicopters, making a dent in Moscow’s fleet.
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KYIV, Ukraine — As Russia fights to slow Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and south, its military has increasingly turned to powerful attack helicopters to hit Ukrainian tanks on the move, destroy river crossings and strike infantry positions, according to military analysts.
The gunships have become a major target for the Ukrainian Air Force, and there is growing evidence that its efforts are taking a toll on the Russian fleet.
Ukraine has shot down at least 23 Ka-52 Russian attack helicopters since Moscow invaded the country eight months ago, Britain’s defense intelligence agency said on Tuesday.
“This represents over 25 percent of the Russian Air Force’s in-service fleet of 90 Ka-52s, and nearly half of Russia’s total helicopter losses in Ukraine,” the agency said on Twitter.
The agency did not disclose the source of its figures. But they mirror those of the independent military analysis site Oryx, which tracks destroyed Russian and Ukrainian aerial assets, and says it has evidence that 23 Ka-52s have been shot down or destroyed. The group also says that it has documented the loss of 31 additional Russian attack and transport helicopters since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began in February, although it says the total number is likely “significantly higher.”
In the past two weeks, the Ukrainian military says, it has shot down nearly a dozen Russian helicopters, including four in an 18-minute span on Oct. 12. The
claims could not be immediately verified.
The failure of Russia to control the skies over Ukraine has plagued its military campaign from the outset of the war. With artillery ammunition running low in places, the British intelligence agency said, Russian commanders “are likely increasingly resorting to conducting high-risk attack helicopter missions as one of the few options available to provide close support for troops in combat.”
The two main Russian attack helicopters, the Ka-52 and the Mil Mi-28, are able to fire laser-guided missiles. Before firing, a gunship often must hover a few hundred feet off the ground to direct a laser at a target that could be as far as six miles away, leaving themselves briefly exposed.
Aerial losses for both sides have continued to mount in the war, and Russia still has vastly more firepower in the sky than Ukraine does.
While the United States has resisted calls to provide fighter jets to Ukraine, it has supplied at least 20 Mi-17 multi-purpose transport helicopters. Latvia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic have donated helicopters, including gunships, to Ukraine.
Oryx has documented the loss of at least 14 Ukrainian helicopters since the start of the war.
— Marc Santora
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