Ukrainian forces have said that they destroyed a Russian helicopter using an American-made HIMARS missile.
The footage purports to show the moment a Russian helicopter is shot out of the sky with the American missile.
The images were obtained from the Office of Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Wednesday, 6th December, along with a statement saying: “Today, UAV pilots of the Defence Forces adjusted the operation of the HIMARS of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“Greetings on the occasion of the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were ‘received’ by the personnel of a Russian transport helicopter near Lyman.
“Our sources claim that the helicopter was functionally destroyed.”
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February 2022 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 652nd day of the full-scale war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February 2022 and 7th December 2023, Russia had lost about 336,230 personnel, 5,618 tanks, 10,482 armoured combat vehicles, 8,045 artillery units, 919 multiple launch rocket systems, 605 air defence systems, 324 warplanes, 324 helicopters, 6,116 drones, 1,571 cruise missiles, 22 warships, 1 submarine, 10,561 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 1,156 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
Republicans in the US Senate have blocked a bill that included financial aid for Ukraine.
The vote makes it more likely that Congress will not approve additional funding for Ukraine before the end of the year.
The White House has warned that Kyiv is in desperate need of more aid.
Ahead of the vote, US President Joe Biden pleaded with Republicans, warning that to allow Moscow to win in Ukraine would make it possible for Russia to attack NATO allies and could draw US forces into a war.
Biden said: “If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there.”
He predicted that Putin would attack a NATO ally, adding that then “we’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops.”
Biden added: “We can’t let Putin win.”
A former Ukrainian MP considered a traitor by Kyiv has been shot dead in a park in suburban Moscow.
The attack has reportedly been attributed to the Ukrainian SBU security service.
Illia Kyva was a pro-Russian member of Ukraine’s Parliament and fled to Russia a month before the beginning of the war.
European leaders are reportedly scrambling to rescue a plan that would allow Ukrainian accession negotiations to the European Union to begin.
The move comes after Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban vowed to block the decision at an EU leader summit next week.
The United States has charged four Russian soldiers with war crimes after they allegedly kidnapped and tortured an American citizen last year who was living in the village of Mylove, in Kherson province, in southern Ukraine with his Ukrainian wife.
The FBI has sent agents to Cyprus to investigate lawyers and accountants who helped shield Kremlin-linked businesses from EU sanctions following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
G7 leaders have agreed to restrict the import of Russian diamonds from 1st January 2024.
The leaders said in a statement after a virtual meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky: “We will introduce import restrictions on non-industrial diamonds, mined, processed, or produced in Russia, by 1st January 2024.”
Zelensky told the G7 leaders that Russia had increased pressure on the frontlines and warned that Moscow was counting on Western unity to “collapse” in 2024.
Zelensky said: “Russia hopes only for one thing – that next year the free world’s consolidation will collapse.”
