International- A Ukrainian soldier explained how his unit took out a Russian attack helicopter using a howitzer.
- Footage of the claimed attack was shared in February, but was grainy and unclear.
A Ukrainian soldier claimed an extremely unusual military feat — describing how his brigade took out a Russian attack helicopter with artillery.
In a video produced by Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, a soldier described the attack in February by the 14th Mechanized Brigade, which was also reported at the time.
According to the report, which Insider was unable to independently verify, the unorthodox attack took out a Russian Mi-24 helicopter.
From the footage that circulated at the time, it appears that the helicopter was struck as it rested on on the ground.
It was a choice opportunity, as conventional artillery rounds aren't useful against airborne targets — they take time to accurately pinpoint. Even hitting a landed helicopter in a live battle would be tough with artillery, given that they tend not to stay still for long.
The Mi-24 is a combined gunship and transport vehicle whose heavy guns and thick armor have earned it the nickname "flying tank."
Footage that circulated of the attack at the time was grainy and unclear. But in the video posted on Tuesday, the soldier, identified only as Stanislav, went into further detail.
—Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 29, 2023
Stanislav's unit was using a M-109 Howitzer, a self-propelled artillery unit whose usual target, he explained, is enemy soldiers, tanks, artillery, or other vehicles on the ground.
However, "the infantry reported to their commanders that they had heard helicopter sounds somewhere nearby," he said.
Using a small quadcopter drone for aerial reconnaissance, they scouted the area and spotted two helicopters, he said. Footage from the claimed attack initially shows one helicopter in the air, but then shows two settled on the ground, in a field.
From there, they could quickly target one of the helicopters with the artillery piece, he said. "From detecting the helicopter to taking the first shot, only a maximum of three minutes passed," Stanislav said.
With a second howitzer joining in, they "prevented it from flying any further," he added, without giving specifics about what happened.
"One managed to escape, the other didn't," he said with a smile. "Well, that was its fate."
The footage then showed the dissipating smoke.
According to the open-source weapons-tracking website Oryx, Russia has lost just five Mi-24 helicopters since the start of the full-scale invasion, although it has not listed this particular instance.
Ukraine, which also uses the Mi-24, has lost three, per the site.