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| Ukraine Claims To Shoot Down 4 Russian Ka-52 Helicopters In Just 18 Minutes |
Kiev - The Ukrainian military announced that its troops had shot down four Russian attack helicopters in just 18 minutes on Wednesday. "From 08.40 to 08.58 on October 12, the anti-aircraft missile unit of the Air Force destroyed at least four enemy attack helicopters (probably Ka-52), which provided fire support to the ground occupation forces in the southern direction," the Ukrainian Air Force said on its Telegram channel. .
One of the helicopters crashed in an undetermined part of southern Ukraine that was recently recaptured by Kiev's forces from Russia, while the other three landed somewhere behind the fighting front lines. The Ukrainian Air Force also revealed that its forces fired on two more Russian helicopters, so the number of downed enemy helicopters is likely to increase.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense mocks the Russian military via Twitter. "Prolific morning, Ukrainian style. Today, in just 18 minutes, service members of the Air Force soldiers shot down four Russian helicopters which damaged the beautiful autumn sky in southern Ukraine," the ministry wrote as quoted on its Twitter account, @DefenceU, Thursday (13/10/2022).
“There is no place for the Alligator here. The local climate is not friendly to them," the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense continued. The Ka-52 dubbed the "Alligator" is a two-seat all-weather attack helicopter, which was first introduced in Russia in the late 1990s.
According to Ukrainian military estimates, which have not been independently verified, since the start of the war on February 24, Kiev forces have destroyed about 235 helicopters and 268 enemy aircraft. Meanwhile, Russian forces continued to carry out massive missile strikes across Ukraine.
The Institute for the Study of War reported that Russian forces fired nearly 30 Kh-101 and Kh-55 cruise missiles from Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers. Major infrastructure has been damaged in the oblasts of Lviv, Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Zaporizhia. Ukraine's energy infrastructure is also in the crosshairs. The Kyiv Independent reports about 30 percent of Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been damaged by Russia since October 10. "This is the first time since the start of the war that Russia has dramatically targeted energy infrastructure," Ukraine's Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko told CNN.
Ukrainian air defense systems reportedly destroyed 21 cruise missiles and 11 unmanned aerial vehicles in recent days. But Russian forces continue to attack Ukrainian infrastructure with Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones.