HISTORY

The Romanian Navy has recovered the wreckage of the Bayraktar drone number 75 from the sea.

and Mi-17 helicopters.

The plan was a brainchild of Major General

Budanov, chief of the Defense Intelligence.

Helicopter pilots were to fly 100 km over the

enemy held territory at night and 5 meters

above ground to deliver the medicine and

ammunition to Mariupol defenders and evacuate those seriously wounded. Several pilots refused to fly the mission but then the

first volunteer showed up. He had a personal reason – his wife

was a nurse tending to

the wounded in the steelworks underground,

so she was to be evacuated together with

them.

The first flight was postponed several times

from the fear of being

discovered by the enemy. Finally, two helicopters delivered to

the defenders the AA

Stingers and anti-tank

NLAW as well as the

A Ukrainian Mi-8MSB shot down during an evacuation flight from

the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.

satellite system StarRisky evacuation missions

Among the older losses, about which we

learn details only now, belong the Ukrainian helicopters destroyed during the supply

flight into Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.

Previously the Ukrainians obviously tried to

keep them secret as much as possible but

after Azovstal’s surrender the reason vanished. From April to mid-May there were in

total seven such missions flown by 16 Mi-8

Russian OFAB-250 bomb with a cynical message about help for Mariupol.

July 2022

link enabling the internet connection.

The majority of these seven missions were

flown by a pair of helicopters. Only one mission was flown by four Mi-8 together even

accompanied by a Mi-24 in the case they needed the fire support. On this mission they

evacuated around 40 wounded defenders.

The flights took place mostly at night with

the help of night vision instruments. On the

way to the destination, right before crossing

the frontline the helicopters landed to refuel.

At steelworks they always picked the landing spot with the least debris. They stayed

15-20 min on the ground with engines and

rotors ready for an immediate take off. They

did not deliver only food supplies, medicine

and ammunition to Azovstal but also several

tens of soldiers who volunteered as a reinforcement.

Each flight took a different route in order to

avoid detection. Some missions were flown

partially over the sea. On the fifth mission

the Russians will have already learned the

situation and shot down one helicopter. On

the last, seventh mission one helicopter

crashed. It was decided to send a SAR helicopter, but the Russians were expecting it

with the portable missiles and shot it down.

It crashed right next to the helicopter wreck

it had tried to help.

Supplies from Allies

Ukraine manages to replenish the airplane

losses, at least partially, with the help of the

Allies. In the beginning of war Kiev requested the aircraft supplies from the West. The

transfer of Mig-29 fighters from Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia was considered but Washington was afraid of the conflict escalation

and these initiatives faded away. Ultimately

the aircraft supplies were gradually started

including Mig-29s, even though in a different

form. Approximately twenty of them reached Ukraine but not airworthy, they will be a

source of spare parts to repair the Ukrainian

AF fighters. Thanks to it Ukraine could increase the number or their combat aircraft.

The supplied aircraft originate in Moldavia

where in 1997 the USA bought 21 Mig-29s.

There were single seaters of the Izdeliye

9-13 version and two-seaters of the Izdeliye

9-51 version. The reason for this purchase

was to prevent the sales to unwanted customers. For example, Iran or North Korea are

very interested to obtain the spare parts for

their aircraft. After these ex-Moldavian Migs

were transferred to the USA couple of them

were restored to the airworthy condition and

served as the adversary during the military

exercises.

Also, 14 dismantled Su-25 fighter-bombers

reached Ukraine. They may have been delivered in April, but the information was made

public only in the end of May. The country of

origin was not officially published but Bulgaria, who had exactly 14 Su-25s, was mentioned. Due to the political reasons, they were

not delivered directly but via USA. Once put

INFO Eduard

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