Kyiv has claimed it downed a Russian attack helicopter in a strike amid an uptick in experiences of Moscow’s plane becoming taken out by Ukraine’s armed forces.
In an update on Thursday, the Standard Personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed: “Our defenders downed a Russian Mi-24 assault helicopter and seven reconnaissance UAVs (unmanned aerial motor vehicles).
Kyiv’s update did not specify the area of the purported strikes, which Newsweek has contacted the Russian protection ministry about.
The news arrives amid Ukrainian claims of successfully focusing on Russian helicopters since the get started of the counteroffensive this month. The thrust is aimed at recapturing Moscow-occupied territory.
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In between June 16 and June 19, the Ukrainian air defense power said its operators experienced introduced down five Kamaz Ka-52 attack helicopters.
The helicopter gunships cost all-around $16 million each individual and have been credited by Russian media for destroying three German Leopard 2 tanks and 11 U.S.-built Bradley infantry combating automobiles on June 10, in the southern Orikhiv sector. Kyiv acknowledged some losses but claimed most of the motor vehicles were reparable.
As of Thursday, Ukraine claimed to have wrecked 314 Russian helicopters because the start off of Vladimir Putin‘s entire-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
The internet site Oryx, which monitors losses on both sides working with visual affirmation, has place the determine considerably decreased at 91, three of which are Mi-24s and 36 are Ka-52s.
Ukraine’s armed forces update on Thursday also said that Ukraine’s Air Pressure experienced sent 12 strikes on Russian manpower and devices clusters, as very well as 6 anti-aircraft missile systems.
“Our rocket and artillery troops hit three command and command points, an anti-plane missile intricate, two manpower and military services devices clusters, 13 artillery units in firing positions, two EW (electronic warfare) stations, and an ammunition depot,” explained the update.
Ukraine also stated on Thursday that Russia had released 44 missile and air strikes about the previous working day but that all the Iranian Shahed UAVs, acknowledged as “suicide drones,” had been intercepted.
It will come as Ukrainian forces executed counteroffensive operations on at minimum three sectors of the front on June 21, the Institute for the Analyze of War (ISW) described.
The feel tank also echoed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s feedback to the BBC that the counteroffensive operations was moving slower than predicted, but Ukrainian forces “are probable effectively placing situations for a long term major exertion despite initial setbacks.”
Marina Miron, a put up-doctoral researcher in the Division of War Scientific studies at King’s Higher education London, advised Newsweek Ukraine’s gains “can be assessed only when the military services aim is achieved— this goes for both sides, as any development is not definite unless of course you can keep the territory you attain.”
