Shocking video from the squadron he flew in captured Wagner being shot down by mercenaries in Saturday’s military coup by a Russian Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter.

The footage, which first appeared on Russian Telegram channels, shows how the helicopter to the left of the one being filmed is hit by a missile, fired from the right, and the military aircraft disintegrates on impact with the missile.

Based on photographs taken after the helicopter fell to the ground, the strike was independently geolocated over the Voronezh region, the regional capital of the same name, which, along with the southern city of Rostov, is one of the two epicenters of the Wagner uprising. on the Don, where Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenaries captured the headquarters of the invasion forces.

According to information circulating on social networks, the entire crew of the attack helicopter died as a result of the strike. In fact, Russian Telegram channels have been reporting since last Sunday that at least 13 people, most of them pilots of the Russian Air Force, died during the uprising that took place the day before.

The Rybari Telegram channel, which is considered close to Wagner’s group, reported more than 20 dead pilots. In the videos that appeared on social networks, you can see how military helicopters open fire on the “Wagner” air defense complex in the Voronezh region, where the attack took place on the new record.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday personally awarded soldiers who, according to Moscow’s military command, took part in suppressing the uprising.

What Vladimir Putin said about Wagner’s mercenaries after the mutiny

At a ceremony held in the Kremlin, Putin said that while he appreciated Wagner’s mercenaries for their contribution to the war in Ukraine, the group was fully funded by the Russian Defense Ministry budget, receiving 86 billion rubles ($1 billion). from May 2022 to May 2023.

In a five-minute speech broadcast live the day before, Putin said the “vast majority” of Wagner’s mercenaries were Russian patriots.

“I thank those fighters and commanders of the “Wagner” PMC who made the only correct decision – they did not follow the path of fratricidal bloodshed, they stopped at the last line,” Putin said in an address to the nation.

He added that these fighters will have “the opportunity to continue their service in Russia by concluding a contract with the Ministry of Defense or other security forces, or return to their relatives and friends.”

“Whoever wants to can go to Belarus,” he added, without mentioning the name of Yevgeny Prigozhin, who received asylum in Minsk as part of an agreement brokered by Alexander Lukashenko.

According to Oryx, an independent website that tracks losses suffered by both sides of the war in Ukraine, the Russians have lost 37 Ka-52 attack helicopters since the beginning of the invasion, a huge number considering Russia had approximately 133 Alligators before the war.

The cost of production of such a helicopter is estimated at approximately 14-16 million dollars.

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