One Russian Telegram account said it was “complete idiocy” to send such a helicopter so close to Ukrainian defenses, saying “you had to be completely detached from reality” to send the specially-equipped Mi-8s into such a zone. There was also consternation among Russian bloggers that one Mi-8 helcopter shot down had advanced jamming equipment. So the enemy most likely knew the route and time of our air group’s departure.” And strikes on the rear, infrastructure, and aviation.”Īnother Russian Telegram channel that posts daily about the conflict claimed the Ukrainians were “launching rockets from the Chernihiv region, coming almost to the very border.”ĭaniil Bezsonov, a Russian military blogger, posted Saturday that “The enemy most likely acted from an ambush by its air defense forces, which had moved into the border zone in advance, from which the distance would allow our air group to be hit. kommersant/TelegramĪndrei Medvedev, a deputy on Moscow city council, said Saturday four aircraft had been lost and added: “Luhansk yesterday, a strike on our air force today. Smoke rises after a SU-34 warplane crashed in Bryansk, Russia on May 13. But other Russian sources have begun discussing the incident, with one popular Telegram channel that posts about the conflict saying: “We are talking about a carefully planned operation here.”

The Kommersant report cannot be independently verified. All four machines did not return to the airfield. Kommersant reported that the “fighters were to carry out a missile-bombing strike on targets in the Chernihiv Region of Ukraine, while the helicopters were to back them up, including to pick up the Su crews if they were shot down by enemy fire.

It added: “The attackers are being sought on the ground and in the air.”

The Russian newspaper Kommersant said that “a group of two Mi-8 helicopters and Su-34 and Su-35 fighters crashed in the Bryansk Oblast,” and suggested more helicopters might have been hit. There’s been no word from the Russian Defense Ministry on the incident, but one unofficial Russian Telegram channel described it as the worst day for Russian military aviation since March last year. The official Russian news agency TASS published video of one helicopter exploding in mid-air and confirmed that an Su-34 fighter had crashed, without indicating the cause. Social media videos geolocated by CNN show at least one helicopter crashing near the town of Klintsy in Bryansk, which is 50 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.Īleksandr Bogomaz, the Governor of Bryansk, confirmed that a helicopter had crashed, injuring one civilian, but gave no details on the cause.Īnother video, showing an aircraft coming down and a column of black smoke, has been geolocated to a village in Bryansk some 25 kilometers from Klintsy. They wanted to bomb our civilians, our peaceful people.” He went on to call it a “black day” for Russian aviation. In this instance, he said, “they ran into some trouble.

Someday david