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Saboteurs in Action
The only confirmed Russian aircraft loss
during this period occurred on Tuesday,
September 10. Ukrainian special forces carried
out a daring raid on drilling platforms in the
Black Sea, used by Russia as radar stations.
The mission was risky, as the Ukrainian troops
reached the platforms in boats without air
support.
Russian patrol planes engaged the boats,
and Russia claimed to have destroyed several.
However, what can be confirmed is that
a Russian Su-30SM fighter crashed into the
sea after being hit by a man-portable missile.
Russia dispatched two rescue helicopters to
the crash site but found only a few wreckage
pieces on the surface. The crew—Captain
Yegor Stepanishin and Captain D. Fomin—did
not survive. The incident took place about 50
kilometers (31 miles) south of the Ukrainian-
controlled Kherson region.
Other Russian losses involved helicopters.
Two helicopters were damaged, and two were
destroyed by saboteurs. One Mi-8AMTSh was
hit by shrapnel from anti-aircraft missiles but
managed to return to base.
In a separate incident on September 24,
a Mi-8MTV-5 helicopter on an advanced base
in Russian-controlled territory was struck by
cluster munitions, suffering shrapnel damage.
Saboteurs destroyed other helicopters.
On September 11, a civilian Mi-8T helicopter,
operated by UTair, was burned to the ground
at the Nojabrsk airport in western Siberia.
Two local teenage boys set it on fire, reportedly
recruited via Telegram and promised five
million rubles.
Another Mi-8AMTSh helicopter, identified as
"Yellow 05," was destroyed on September 21 at
the Omsk-Severny airbase. The fire completely
ruined the cockpit, rendering the aircraft
irreparable. Russian authorities captured the
saboteurs, two 16-year-old boys allegedly
recruited through social networks.
Ukrainian special forces in action at drilling platforms
in the Black Sea. A Russian Su-30SM was shot down
during this operation.
The cockpit of a Mi-8AMTSh, with the fuselage
number “Yellow 05,” was entirely destroyed
at the Omsk-Severny airbase.
A Mi-8T with
the registration
RA-24519 burned
completely at the
Nojabrsk airport.
A Russian Mi-8AMTSh helicopter damaged by shrapnel from an air-defense missile.
A Russian Mi-8MTV-5 helicopter damaged by a cluster ammunition while on the ground.
UKRAINE
INFO Eduard
33
November 2024