A new video posted on social media by the Ukrainian military shows their exuberant joy after they managed to shoot down a new Ka-52 “Alligator” helicopter of the Russian Air Force, with Moscow losing more than a quarter of the total number of these helicopters. during the war in Ukraine.

The strike was allegedly carried out by the Ukrainian military in Kherson, a strategic region for the Russian armed forces, from where the occupation authorities began evacuating the civilian population to Russia last Wednesday.

The troops of Kyiv shot down a Russian attack helicopter from a portable anti-aircraft missile complex, better known by the abbreviation MANPADS. It will be recalled that in August, the Ministry of Defense of Romania also launched an auction worth 680 million euros for the purchase of 231 such systems.

Although the footage was shot by the Ukrainian military from the ground and the destruction of the helicopter is not very visible, the freeze frame at 0:09 of the frame captures the moment when the Russian plane is hit by a missile.

A few fractions of a second later, two dots are visible on the recording, indicating that the Russian helicopter disintegrated on impact and then fell to the ground to the cheers of the Ukrainian military.

Another video, which appeared on social networks on September 22, more clearly shows the downing of a Ka-52 helicopter by the Kyiv military with MANPADS, but this video was shot from a drone.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine claims that on Monday its troops shot down 3 Russian helicopters, but, like the statement on October 12 about the destruction of 4 Ka-52 “Alligators” in just 18 minutes, this information should be taken with caution, since it is not always possible to independently verify, and the information war is waged by both sides of the conflict.

Ukrainians shot down a quarter of Russian Air Force Ka-52 helicopters

But with regard to independently confirmed strikes, the UK Ministry of Defense notes in its assessment of the war in Ukraine, published on Tuesday morning, that the number of Ka-52 helicopters shot down by the Ukrainians is 23.

This means that the forces of Kyiv managed to shoot down more than 25 percent of the Ka-52 helicopters that were in Russia before the start of the war on February 24, and almost half of the total number of helicopters sent to provide “special purpose” air support. operation.

The British assessment also notes that Russian helicopters have suffered, in particular, from man-portable MANPADS and that they are forced to operate without the more consistent support of Russian fighter jets, as stipulated in the military doctrine of the Ministry of Defense of Moscow.

This is because the Russian Air Force failed to achieve air superiority over Ukraine, which is a must in any modern conflict.

The assessment, based on data provided by British intelligence services, indicated that the Russian air force continued to fail to provide close support to front-line units, adding that it was also beginning to have problems with large-caliber ammunition.

“Russian commanders are likely to increasingly resort to high-risk missions using attack helicopters as one of the few options available to provide direct support to troops in combat,” concluded an assessment released Tuesday by the Ministry of Defense in London.

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