Images of the wreckage of a Russian Mi-28N attack helicopter have been posted online.
It was probably shot down by the air defense of the Ukrainian military.
The photos were probably taken in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and recently posted on social media.
The exact date and place where these photos of the helicopter wreckage were taken is unknown.
Four large fragments of the aircraft were captured: the front part of the fuselage with the cockpit for two pilots, part of the tail beam, a piece of the middle part of the fuselage with the pilot’s seat, and the five-blade rotor.
The photos show that the helicopter is missing the central fuselage fragment, which contains two engines and wings with hardpoints.
This could be a result of the defeat of the Russian Mi-28N with a powerful anti-aircraft missile, which led to the destruction or fragmentation of the helicopter hull.
It could also have been the result of an uncontrolled fall of the aircraft after being hit by a lighter air defense missile. Or this part of the helicopter burned out on the ground after it fell.
The Russian helicopter crashed in a different location, and its wreckage was then collected and transported to one place, possibly to be sent back to the Russian Federation.
This debris might belong to the Russian Mi-28N attack helicopter, which the Ukrainian military shot down in the spring of 2022 in the Luhansk region.
It was likely hit by a portable anti-aircraft missile system (MANPADS). The video published at the time captured the helicopter falling off the tail boom and beginning to fall in the area of the village after the strike.
Later, The Times, citing sources in British military circles, reported that this Russian helicopter was probably shot down from the Starstreak MANPADS, which the UK handed over to Ukraine as part of military assistance to fight Russian invaders.