Remember when Ukraine claimed it downed a Russian helicopter with a cheap drone?

Some of the most compelling combat footage from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine was published online in August 2024. It showed what Ukrainian authorities claimed might have been the first footage ever captured of a drone downing a helicopter in mid-flight.

The drone attack occurred on August 6th across the Russian-Ukrainian border in Kursk by operators from the Security Service of Ukraine’s Special Operation Center 'A' according to an unnamed source from the service.

The source called the attack “a unique special operation in military history” according to The Kyiv Independent, which spoke to the unnamed individual on August 7th regarding the video footage that was later released. 

Video footage of the Ukrainian drone ramming a Russian Mi-28 attack helicopter began circulating on social media on August 6th, and a full version of the video was posted on Telegram by the Ukrainian activist Serhii Sternenko on August 7th. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Artem Katranzhi, CC BY-SA 2.0

In the video, a grainy picture shows the attack from the drone's perspective. It appears as if the drone operators spotted the Mi-28 before the footage began. The video's opening scene shows the drone quickly making its way to the helicopter. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @ssternenko

As the drone approached the Mi-28 helicopter, its operators maneuvered the weapon to the left and began flying toward the Mi-28’s positions. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @ssternenko

The video then cuts to a different scene showing what could be the same drone moving toward the helicopter and into its rear rotor. However, it is not clear from the video footage if the drone destroyed the helicopter. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @ssternenko

The unnamed source who spoke with The Kyiv Independent told the news agency that the Mi-28 was downed as a result of the encounter, though the outlet noted it couldn’t verify the claim.  

Photo Credit: Telegram @ssternenko

The video cut out before there were any visible signs that the helicopter had been hit. Another edit in the video cut to a different scene that showed a similar situation as the first two scenes but from a different location above the Russian helicopter. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @ssternenko

The source went on to say that the Security Service of Ukraine “once again demonstrated a high level of professionalism, creativity, and innovation in destroying the enemy. We still have many unexpected surprises for Russia.”

Alexei Zemtsov is a Pro-Russian military blogger and the operator of the Telegram Voevoda Veshchaet, and on August 6th he wrote that a Russian helicopter was struck by a drone while flying and forced to land, so there may have been some truth to the claim. 

Zemtsov did not reveal if the crew of the helicopter survived nor did he specify the type of helicopter that was forced to land. Newsweek also reported on the story and noted it was “not clear whether the drone permanently disabled the helicopter.”

Photo Credit: Telegram @ssternenko

“Ukraine has consistently targeted Russia's high-value assets, like its helicopters, using drones and missiles to take out military equipment used to attack Ukraine,” Ellie Cook of Newsweek noted before explaining why this attack was interesting. 

According to Cook, the drone attack might have been the first instance of a first-person view drone being used to damage a helicopter while it was in flight, a fact that officials in Ukraine had pointed out as well. 

On August 7th, the Ukrainian Armed Forces Strategic Communications Office published a version of the footage and claimed the hit was "probably the first case in world history when a drone hit a helicopter,” Newsweek reported. 

On July 31st, Forbes reported another possible successful drone-on-helicopter incident may have occurred in Donetsk—though there was no footage of the incident, but rather only an image of a downed helicopter reportedly taken out by a drone. 

Photo Credit: X @lost_warinua

The story was later updated on August 2nd with information from military blogger and helicopter pilot Aleksey Voyevoda, who reportedly claimed the helicopter was taken out by Ukrainian forces with a ground-launched rocket rather than a drone. 

Ukraine had just launched a ground operation into the Russian region of Kursk Oblast with hundreds of soldiers as well as dozens of tanks and more than twenty armored vehicles according to Newsweek.

At the time it was not known that that invasion would turn into a larger occupation of Russian land by Ukrainian forces. As of January 2nd, the Ukrainian Armed Forces still controlled about 40% of the 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of territory it eventually captured according to a separate Newsweek report.

Newsweek also reported that as of August 7th, open-source intelligence suggests that at least one Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter and one Mi-28 attack helicopter have been lost in the fighting in Kursk.  

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