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

by Martin Fornusek and The Kyiv Independent news desk August 9, 2024 11:33 AM 2 min read

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)

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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.

0:00

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.

Authors: Martin Fornusek, The Kyiv Independent news desk

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