Ukrainian Air Force reports two russian Ka-52 attack helicopters shot down over the past day and a half, plus four Shahed-131/136 and one Lancet suicide drones. Air defenses also took down seven reconnaissance UAVs of types Orlan-10, Orlan-30, Zala, and SuperCam – overall 12 drones and 2 helicopters as of the morning of May 18.
The destruction of two Ka-52s is especially notable given the context of Ukraine's developing counteroffensive operations. The neutralized russian aerial assets point to a few details important to the success of Ukrainian units on the ground.
Read more: Why russian Ka-52 Helicopters' Electronics See Combines As Tanks
Over the past week, Ukrainian air defense destroyed four Ka-52 rotorcraft in total. It looks like Ukrainian soldiers figured out a tactic or at least ideas of how they could reach russian helicopters that try to launch strikes only safely from the maximum distance possible. For unguided rockets, this distance would be 10 km. This way, Ka-52s stay out of the range of Ukrainian surface-to-air missile systems.
At least one Ka-52 was taken out at night: it indicates the helicopter was hit during a combat sortie when it tried to attack Ukrainian positions, so it wasn't a coincidence. It shows both the fact that russian still actively use their army aviation for attacks on Ukrainian forces but also that Ukrainians have a clue how to counter these helicopters.
The less safe the russian side feels to apply attack rotorcraft, the more opportunities open for the Armed Forces of Ukraine for going deeper with their offensives on russian-occupied positions when the air defense systems cannot follow.
Although, to bring this to real effect, Ukrainians should make their success in hunting down enemy helicopters systematic. This way russian commanders will think twice before sending their aviation into the gray zone. As the number of helicopters russia has already lost in this war is no less than 304 units.
Read more: rUssian Ammunition Storage was Destroyed Near Henichesk
