File image.
A Soviet-made Mi-8 helicopter of Ukraine’s 16th Army Aviation Brigade “Brody” crashed in the Poltava region during a mission to intercept drones, killing all four crew members, said Brody’s city council in the western Lvov Region, where the deceased will be buried.
According to information published on the city council’s Facebook page, the helicopter crashed on June 30. At the time, the incident was not reported by Ukrainian media.
The slain crewmembers were identified as pilot-commander Captain Yuriy Voron, pilot-navigator Major Valentyn Mukshynov, flight engineer Senior Lieutenant Bohdan Khmil, and air gunner Junior Sergeant Mykhailo Deriaga.
Ukraine has lost at least at least 50 Mi-8/17 helicopters — including three described as “damaged” — since the start of the Russian special military operation, according to Wikipedia’s list of aviation shootdowns and accidents which is based on visual evidence or official confirmations only.
While most of the helicopters were shot down or hit on the ground, there were earlier reports of some being struck by drones while attempting to intercept them.
Worth noting that Russia has been fielding Geran-type interceptor drones armed with short-range air-to-air missiles for a while now.
It’s very possible that the Ukrainian helicopter that crashed in Poltava did not collide with a one-way attack drone or suffer damage from intercepting one, but was instead shot down by an interceptor drone.
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