Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence shared about the secret missions of the Ukrainian pilots to the besieged Mariupol.

Kyrylo Budanov shared the details of these flights with The War Zone.

According to him, 16 Мi-8 helicopters participated in the missions. They were delivering everything needed to continue the resistance, including weapons, ammunition, medicines, and supplies, to the defenders of Mariupol.

During one of the missions, reinforcements in the form of 72 fighters of the Azov Regiment were delivered to Mariupol.

In total, there were seven such missions. Ukrainian pilots were able to overcome the Russian air defense system installed around the city.

Each of the crews made two to four flights during their mission.

Two helicopters were shot down by the Russians. They were also able to destroy the helicopter, which flew out to the rescue the downed crew.

On May 20, 2022, in an interview devoted to the third anniversary of his inauguration, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared that many pilots who were transporting food to Mariupol had died.

“Absolutely heroic people who knew that it would be difficult, that it was almost impossible to fly to Azovstal and bring them medicines, food, water, to take away wounded and the bodies of the dead. Everything was happening. A lot of things were happening that no one could officially comment on. Since the large scale air corridors to Azovstal were impossible to arrange due to the powerful air defense deployed by Russians,” the President said.

Andriy Biletskyi, Founder of the Azov regiment, said in an interview with Ukrainian Pravda that the first four missions were an absolute success, and the problems first appeared with the 5th one.

“Not even the “black hawk down” (film – ed.) has ever allowed the Americans to enter closer than a hundred kilometers into the deeply echeloned air defense system zone while patrolling. There has never been such operation in the history of mankind,” Biletsky said.

Kyrylo Budanov did not announce the exact number of losses among Ukrainian pilots.