Russian Mi-8 helicopter flew to Ukraine

The Russian Mi-8 helicopter, as reported by both Russian and Ukrainian sources, flew from Russia to Ukraine some time ago and landed at one of the Ukrainian airfields. Those who write about this event evaluate its causes in different ways. There has been no official announcement about this yet.

The Russian Telegram channel FighterBomber wrote on Wednesday that the helicopter “disappeared a couple of weeks ago.” According to him, the helicopter for some reason – due to radio play or navigation failure – lost its orientation and flew to Ukraine, the crew saw the airfield and landed, and it turned out that it was Poltava, and when the helicopter tried to take off, it was fired upon, the pilot was wounded, and two other crew members are presumably killed.

Ukrainian journalist Yury Butusov, citing sources in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, confirmed that a Russian military helicopter had flown to one of the Ukrainian air bases “some time ago”, but said that it could not have been a navigation error, since the Poltava airfield is approximately 300 kilometers from the front line , and such a flight had to be well prepared. According to Butusov, the helicopter is completely intact.

Then “Ukrainskaya Pravda” reported, citing sources in the special services, that it was a special operation of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which lasted more than six months: Ukrainian intelligence “lured” the Mi-8 AMTSH pilot to Ukraine, and his family was taken out of Russia in advance. The helicopter made a flight between two Russian airbases with parts for fighters and landed, as it is claimed, in the Kharkiv region (that is, not in Poltava, but at another airfield, closer to the border). The other two crew members did not know where the helicopter was actually flying, as a result of the special operation, they were reportedly killed. At the same time, it is not clear from the message whether the crew commander was recruited by Ukrainian intelligence.

A photo of the helicopter in question was also published.

According to “Ukrainskaya Pravda”, the car is “already in Kyiv”.

After this publication, Fighterbomer wrote another post in which he insists on his version of events and, among other things, claims that the families of the helicopter crew are in Russia, and also that by Poltava he meant not a city, but a settlement in the Kharkiv region.

As reported by “Hromadske”, the representative of HUR Andrey Yusov generally confirmed the version of events presented by “Ukrainskaya Pravda”, but promised that the official announcement would be made later.