Russia has said that it has taken out a Ukrainian tank with a Ka-52 attack helicopter.
The footage purports to show the moment the Russian helicopter fires a rocket at the Ukrainian tank, with the images cutting to an explosion purporting to show the Ukrainian war machine being hit by the Russian ordnance.
The images were obtained from the Russian Ministry of Defence on Thursday, 12 October, along with a statement claiming: “The crew of a Ka-52 reconnaissance and attack helicopter destroyed a Ukrainian Armed Forces tank with a guided missile, which was trying to fire under the cover of a forest belt. Zaporizhzhia direction.”
We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February 2022 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 597th day of the full-scale war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February 2022 and 13th October 2023, Russia had lost about 285,920 personnel, 4,931 tanks, 9,313 armoured combat vehicles, 6,807 artillery units, 811 multiple launch rocket systems, 546 air defence systems, 316 warplanes, 316 helicopters, 5,264 drones, 1,531 cruise missiles, 20 warships, 1 submarine, 9,203 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 967 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
Fierce battles are being fought between Ukrainian and Russian forces around the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka after Moscow began one of its largest offensives in months this week.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces are holding their ground but local official said that Russia’s attacks are relentless.
Finland said that it was possible that a “state actor” was behind damage to a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea linking its country to Estonia.
The International Olympic Committee has suspended Russia after Moscow recognised regional organisations from Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, which are disputed Ukrainian territories Russia unilaterally and illegally annexed in September last year.
Serhiy Naev, the Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that his country had thwarted an attempt by Russian saboteurs to cross its north-eastern border in the Sumy region overnight, saying: “The saboteurs tried to cross the state border of Ukraine and intended to move further towards one of the civilian critical infrastructure facilities.”
He added that the group was repelled by Ukrainian fire.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he expects his country’s military and defence cooperation with Kyrgyzstan to expand.
Putin made the comments while visiting a Russian airbase near the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek.
French prosecutors have launched an investigation into the potential poisoning of exiled Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, who staged a high-profile protest against the war in Ukraine.
She made headlines last year when she held up a sign on Russian television reading “Stop the war”.
Ovsyannikova reportedly fell ill after opening the door to her flat in Paris and finding a powdered substance.
On Thursday, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly recognised the starvation of millions of people in Ukraine in the 1930s under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin as “genocide”.
The text on the “Holodomor” in 1932-1933 was adopted after a near-unanimous vote, with 73 in favour and one against.
Zelensky said that he was “grateful” for the move, adding: “Restoring historical justice and paying tribute to Holodomor victims sends a message that justice is inevitable for all past and present Moscow’s crimes.”
NATO member Romania said on Thursday that it had found a crater from a suspected drone which may have exploded on its territory near its border with Ukraine.
