On Tuesday, August 29, two Mi-8 military helicopters from the 18th separate army aviation brigade named after Ihor Sikorsky (Ground Forces) crashed in Donetsk region.
The fact of the plane crash was confirmed to "Babel" by the Ground Forces and the Air Force.
The investigation is currently ongoing — it is conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).
The day before, the media reported that the disaster occurred in the Kramatorsk district, and six bodies were found at the crash site. The spokesman of the brigade said to "Suspilne. Poltava" that all the dead had officer ranks. He did not disclose the details, only adding that they will say goodbye to those who died in Poltava on September 1.
Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat told "Babel" that not six pilots were killed, but only the crew — two pilots. It is not known who the other four are. He confirmed that SBI was investigating and suggested that the helicopters had caught on wires or had been shot down. The investigation will put an end to this issue.
"Ukraiinska Pravda" ["Ukrainian Truth"], citing sources, wrote that data on violations of flight rules or preparation for them were entered into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations (Article 416 of the Criminal Code). This article is punishable by 5 to 15 years in prison.
SBI has not yet commented on the start of the investigation.
Ilya Yevlash, the head of the press service of the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, later told "Suspilne" that the helicopters were performing a combat mission when an enemy Su-35 fighter jet flew into the sky — at that time, Ukrainian helicopters were landing to avoid an attack. What exactly caused the plane crash is currently unknown. The commission is working.
- Before that, on August 25, two L-39 planes collided in Zhytomyr region. Three pilots died — captain Andrii Pilshchikov with the call sign Juice and majors Vyacheslav Minka and Serhiy Prokazin. The investigation is studying three versions of the plane crash: violation of flight rules, technical negligence and pilot error. Decryption of the black boxes has already begun.