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Ukrainian FPV drone hit another Russian helicopter in Kursk Oblast, source says

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Ukrainian FPV drone hit another Russian helicopter in Kursk Oblast, source says
Illustrative purposes only: A Russian Mi-8 military helicopter flies over a joint Russian and Turkish convoy (not pictured) as it patrols oil fields near the town of al-Qahtaniyah, Syria. Feb. 4, 2021. (Delil Souleiman/AFP via Getty Images)

A first-person-view (FPV) drone operated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) hit another Russian military helicopter in mid-air in Kursk Oblast, a source in the agency told the Kyiv Independent on Aug. 9.

This comes as the second reported case this week. A Russian Mi-28 attack helicopter was reportedly hit by an FPV drone in Kursk Oblast on Aug. 6 in what some called the first such successful attack in history.

The source did not specify the model of the second aircraft, but Ukrainian activist Serhii Sternenko, who also reported on the attack, said it was a Mi-8 transport helicopter.

A video of the attack provided by the source appears to confirm this. The operation was carried out by the Special Operations Center "A" of the SBU, according to the source.

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An undated video provided by a source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to the Kyiv Independent on Aug. 9, 2024. The video appears to show a Ukrainian drone ramming into a flying Russian military helicopter.

It is not immediately clear whether the helicopter was downed in the attack. Sternenko said that the aircraft was hit in the tail "with a powerful fragmentation warhead."

According to Sternenko and several other observers, the strike against the Mi-28 helicopter on Aug. 6 was the first successful hit by an FPV drone against a helicopter mid-air.

At least one similar but unconfirmed claim appeared on July 31. Forbes wrote at the time that, according to Russian military bloggers, a Ukrainian drone successfully destroyed Russia's Mi-8 transport helicopter in the sky near occupied Donetsk.

Ukraine launched an unprecedented incursion into Kursk Oblast on Aug. 6, with fighting reportedly ongoing at least in two border districts.

Kursk Oblast lies on the border with Ukraine's Sumy Oblast, which has been experiencing daily attacks since Russian troops were pushed out of the oblast and back across the border in April 2022.

Ukraine’s unprecedented attack on Kursk Oblast brings war back to Russian soil
Russian sovereign territory is once again under attack after Ukrainian forces launched an ambitious operation across the state border in Kursk Oblast in large numbers on Aug. 6. This time, the attack is led not primarily by small units of pro-Ukraine Russian nationals and other assorted foreign for…
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"The Russians personally visited the central districts of Kyiv, in particular Independence Square, assessed the situation on the spot and further adjusted... the operational plan of neutralizing protest actions with the forceful dispersal of demonstrators," the State Bureau of Investigation said.

"Last night, Poland's airspace was breached 19 times by drones manufactured in Russia. The assessment of Polish and NATO air forces is that they did not veer off course, but were deliberately targeted," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in a video statement.

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Poland, NATO’s eastern frontline state, is facing its most serious security challenge in decades. Western officials have warned of the risk of a direct confrontation with Russia in the coming years, but are Poland — and NATO — truly prepared for such escalation?

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