Ukrainians sabotage two Russian Ka-52 helicopters 600 km from Russian-Ukrainian border

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Ukrainian saboteurs blew up two Ka-52 attack helicopters of the Russian Air Force at a military airfield in the Pskov region on October 30. Initially, reports on the act of sabotage appeared on social media and in the mass media. On October 31, Ukraine's military intelligence service issued a statement, claiming responsibility for the incident.

Later, a video appeared on Telegram channels, filmed by saboteurs who had freely entered the territory of the Veretye military airfield in broad daylight and placed explosives under the Ka-52s sitting there.

The authenticity of the video has been confirmed by open-source investigators. JB Schneider compared satellite images of the airbase against the video, noting that the authenticity can be confirmed by matching structures, vegetation and the location of the helicopters.

The Military Informant Telegram channel writes that the Ukrainians used the simplest Soviet VZD-6h delayed-action fuses with MD-5M detonators for the act of sabotage, which were then placed in the explosive charges attached to the Ka-52 helicopters.

The bombs were placed in broad daylight and detonated via a fuse timer late in the evening.

Today, on November 1, the REN TV channel, citing its own sources, reported that after examining the scene, the security forces found another explosive device. The suspicious device was attached to the fuselage of the Mi-28 helicopter. The potential explosive yield of the device would have been 400 grams in TNT equivalent. The report said sabotage may be to blame.

Along with these two helicopters, Russia has lost at least 25 Ka-52 helicopters since the beginning of the military invasion of Ukraine (the Air Force had a total of about 130 Ka-52 helicopters).

Intruders had already infiltrated the Veretye airfield undetected on one occasion in 2019. Back then, they were activists from the Extreme Photographer group. They took photos and recorded videos of the Ka-52 attack helicopters of the 15th Brigade of Army Aviation of the Western Military District, as well as the of the airfield.

Anna Titova