Three MI-8 attack helicopters take off from a secret base in Ukraine and fly at low altitude to their target near Bakhmut, in the east of the country, which has been fighting against Russian forces for months, AFP reports.

As they approached the target one by one, the planes suddenly raised their noses, launched a barrage of missiles, made a quick turn and then returned to their base, also at a very low altitude.

The target was “on a line of enemy fortifications consisting of ground troops, armored vehicles and ammunition depots,” Petro, one of the pilots, told AFP after his 30-minute mission.

The target was near Severodonetsk, northeast of Bakhmut, where the Kiev troops are holding, but almost surrounded.

For the past few years, Ukrainian helicopter pilots have been carrying out dangerous combat missions on their old MI-8 and MI-24 machines every day.

In his big pilot’s jacket, Petro may not show who knows what, but at the age of 23, he has already made about 50 sorties.

“The Russians don’t need to know that we will come until the last minute”

Fueling the helicopter with rockets and kerosene, he recounts the details of the early morning attack, which was launched from a location that cannot be disclosed for security reasons.

“Before the flight, we choose a route, use special applications to go through the lowest points. For example, if we see heights of 180 m, they are too high, so we start looking for lower heights and find 130 m, 100 m…”, says the pilot.

“The goal is to fly lower than what’s on the route so that the Russian radars don’t see us, they don’t know we’re coming until the last minute,” he continues.

The plane suddenly, for a short moment, climbs up, just as it hits the target, which is 6,100 meters away.

“When we are at a distance of 6,200 meters from the target, we go up 20 degrees (…) Then we launch missiles, 15 on each side,” he explains.

Ammunition is placed in launchers located on the right and left sides of the helicopter. Immediately after the start, the Mi-8 helicopter dives to the left, and then makes a return flight, also at a low altitude.

They are assisted by infantry with drones

Helicopters on a mission – with a pilot and a co-pilot – fire one after the other.

The return journey is different from the departure “so as not to fall into a trap” and not be the target of Russian anti-aircraft fire, says Petro.

On the front line, infantry units, notified in advance of the time of the attack, launch a drone to check whether the objective has been reached.

If not, corrections are made for a new snapshot shortly thereafter.

“At the beginning of the war, we did not have drones. Missions were more difficult and less effective. But in the summer we started receiving drones and other equipment. Today we are more efficient,” said the pilot.

Missiles that do not have a modern guidance and aiming system have an accuracy of only 100-200 meters.

Peter’s most difficult mission

The most difficult mission took place on March 6, 2022 in the south of the Mykolaiv region. “There were four helicopters, the target was a long column of military equipment” headed for the Zaporizhzhia NPP, now occupied by the Russians.

“I saw the target at a distance of about 2 km. We had information that he was not moving, but in fact he was moving,” and he was shooting at us, he recalls.

“Two of our helicopters were destroyed, the third was damaged, and I was lucky to be in the fourth. I was not hit (…) Only two of us returned to the base,” he says, still deeply affected by the mission.

According to a military source, around thirty Ukrainian pilots have been killed since the beginning of the conflict.

“When you start the engine, the fear disappears”

For Peter, “the most difficult thing is preparation, making decisions, how to act during the flight, in which direction to go to the goal, because we don’t know the landscape before the flight, we can’t be sure of anything,” he explains.

“As soon as we start the engine, the fear disappears because we are trained to do this, we trust ourselves, our decisions. So you start flying without fear,” he says.

When asked if he “dreams” of flying the American Black Hawk attack helicopter one day, he decided not to give up on the Mi-8: “It’s not perfect, but it’s good, we know that.”

Videos of Ukrainian helicopters during the mission are widely distributed on social networks, and the pilots are perceived as heroes.

But Peter especially thinks about the soldiers, who “suffer much more than us, even if they greet and encourage from the ground.”

“They are in battle all the time. Even though we are taking a lot of risk, it won’t take us long to complete the mission. When I see people on the field cheering for us, I know exactly why I’m here,” he says.

What do Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter attacks look like: