The Russians published on social media a video of the destruction of the Ка-52 attack helicopter by its own crew.

Militarny reported about this.

During the March battles in the Kyiv region, the Russian helicopter received critical damage and made an emergency landing.

The Russian side reported that the crew destroyed its board so that the helicopter did not fall into the hands of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

The destruction of helicopters, that cannot be evacuated due to emergency landings in “no man’s land” or behind enemy lines, is normal practice among the military. Often, after the evacuation of pilots, the damaged aircraft is destroyed by its own crew or by allied artillery.

The enemy can recover and use the trophy machine. There is also a considerable risk that the enemy will receive information about the secret equipment and weaknesses of the aircraft. In particular, EW systems and the “friend-or-foe” identification system are considered to be critical elements. Although the relevance of the latter’s data may be in doubt.

In December, Militarny reported that on the Zaporizhzhya front, the Russian Pantsir-S1 self-propelled anti-aircraft shot down the Russian Ка-52 with friendly fire.

This case was not an exception during the Ruso-Ukrainian war. Russian aviation is shooting down its own aircraft, probably due to incorrect operation of the air defense forces, a possible lack of friend-or-foe systems, or their malfunction.

Earlier, Militarny reported that in the Kyiv region it was possible to capture a Russian Ка-52 attack helicopter almost unscathed. The combat helicopter of the Russian military was found in the Bucha district, in the Kyiv region.

The helicopter was shot down from a man-portable anti-aircraft missile system on the first day of the war, February 24. Russian pilots landed it and fled.

The aircraft remained in place while hostilities continued in the Kyiv region. On April 2, operators of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reached the helicopter.

After the liberation of the region from the Russian invaders, the helicopter was evacuated.