Repeated strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine disabled russian crossings over the Dnipro River, that had been used to deliver heavy weapons and ammunition. That's why the invaders are forced to use army helicopters as means of transportation.
But this format of crossing is ineffective because only a limited amount of supplies can be delivered to the other bank by helicopters, according to Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for the Defense Forces "South" of the Ukrainian Army, Liga.Net reports.
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There is no other data on how this "helicopter crossing" of russians operates over Dnipro in the Kherson region yet. But the available data from open sources tell us that the russian army definitely does not have enough helicopters to maintain the necessary intensity of crossing the Dnipro.
In particular, there was information that the russian federation had concentrated a total of 360 rotorcraft along the entire frontline and on the borders with Ukraine. But how many of those are transport helicopters is an open question. Because according to The Military Balance, by the end of 2021, the russian army had only 300 transport helicopters of the Mi-8/Mi-17 type, and 33 heavy helicopters of the Mi-26 type.
It is difficult to say how many Mi-8/Mi-17 survived the war. We can only remind you that as of September 6, 2022, the russian occupiers have lost a total of 207 transport and attack helicopters.
Theoretically, if the russians could involve the heavy Mi-26 as the crossing over Dnipro, it would be a significant "reinforcement" for the logistics of the occupation army. That is because the Mi-26 can take on board up to 20 tons of cargo. But russians haven’t risked using rotorcraft of this type in battles against the Ukrainian Armed Forces, instead, they use Mi-26 for the delivery of the wounded to the territory of the russian federation at most.
Meanwhile, the Mi-8/Mi-17 helicopters can take a maximum of 3 tons of cargo on board or on external suspension. And it’s an over statement to say they need to transport only ammunition to the other bank of Dnipro – there is already a video in public domain showing occupiers abandoning a significant number of small arms ammo as they flee from the Ukrainian forces.
During numerous exercises, the russian army staged "shows" featuring a D-30 howitzer transported on the external suspension of the Mi-17, in the style of the US Marine Corps. But it seems that no one among the russian military before the war thought of working out the "air bridge"-format supply chain with the help of transport helicopters.
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