Two other crew members on board did not know where the helicopter was headed and were killed…
That’s a little disturbing. I presume the two crew who were killed saw the Ukrainians coming to take them prisoner, and fought back. But they might have gotten a clue something was amiss when the pilot’s family was aboard the aircraft. Maybe they attempted to stop the defection and were killed by the pilot or his family? The Mi-8 has a crew of three: The pilot, a copilot, and a flight engineer (crew chief?), and has the ability to carry 24 passengers.
While not significant militarily, it brings the war home to the Moskovits. Otherwise it’s just a “Special Military Operation” being fought by dragooned rural conscripts. Life is going from being inconvenienced by the closing of western fast food/coffee/fashion shops to, “Why the f%*# are these air raid sirens going off at all hours and why are my flights/vacations being canceled?”
My little summary was not very well written so apologies for misleading.
Russia has lost at least 40 Ka-52 helicopters to enemy action according to Oryx. In total it is estimated they owned 133, although probably fewer were active.
I was reading an analysis of the impact of these attacks, and it was commenting that “bringing the war home” is a mixed bag. It forces Russians to be more aware of the war, but it also tends to harden the resolve against Ukraine.
But these attacks unequivocally help with Ukrainian morale, and are valuable for that reason alone.
I posted in the Prigozhin End Game thread that if the ‘Embraer business jet’ is an Embraer 600, then only one had crashed out of nearly 300 made. It landed safely; the Boeing 737 it collided with didn’t. I don’t think there’s much room for ‘if it was shot down.’
Why would anyone else shoot it down? No one outside Russia had any love for Prigozhin, but he was useful as a thorn in Putin’s side. This event only benefits Russia, and most probably Putin himself.
Prig was an idiot if he thought this was going to end without either him or Putin dead.
Tver Oblast where it went down is northwest of Moscow. I’m pretty sure the Ukrainians have no air defense capabilities hitting targets there, barring a infiltration/sabotage group with a man-portable SAM. If the Ukrainians could get such a group into that area, they’d be shooting at Tupolev bombers and not Prigozhin’s business jet. If it was shot down, it was the Russians.
Ah thanks I didn’t know that. I was always likely to be the Russians I just thought it wasn’t 100% certain.
I’ve heard that neo-Nazi Wagner leader Dmitry Utkin might have also been on the flight. A despicable individual - not many people will be mourning his loss.