Defense Intelligence: 16 helicopters provided Mariupol defenders with arms, supplies, and additional soldiers.

Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate, told The Drive media outlet that there have been seven missions during which Mi-8 helicopters have been providing Ukrainian soldiers defending the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol with “arms, ammunition, medicine, food, and 72 additional fighters from the Azov Regiment.” Those deliveries were successful, according to Budanov. However, two helicopters were shot down during the fifth and seventh missions, and the one coming to the rescue was also destroyed, Budanov said, as reported by The Drive.