According to data from the "Oryx" OSINT group, nine Russian helicopters — seven Ka-52s and two Mi-8s — were destroyed by airstrikes in occupied Berdyansk and Luhansk.
This was reported on X by "Oryx" analyst Jakub Janovsky.
According to his information, another eight Ka-52s and seven Mi-8s were damaged.
Janovsky specified that helicopters that cannot be restored are also in the damaged category. Most likely, they are finally destroyed, however, the "Oryx" project cannot prove this for sure.
- On the night of October 17, Ukrainian troops struck airfields near occupied Berdyansk and Luhansk. The Special Operations Forces (SSO) informed that 9 helicopters of various modifications, special equipment, an air defense launcher, and ammunition depots were destroyed at both airfields. Runways were also damaged.
- On the evening of October 17, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) confirmed Ukraineʼs use of long-range ATACMS missiles. Citing sources, it was noted that the US secretly sent a small batch of missiles with a range of about 160 kilometers. This range of damage (up to 165 km) has the basic version of the MGM-140A ATACMS Block 1 with a cluster warhead consisting of 950 bombs of the M74 type.
- Then President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine received ATACMS and successfully applied them. The same evening, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi released a video of the ATACMS long-range missile launch.
- On October 19, the investigative project "Schemes" published satellite images from Planet Labs showing Berdyansk Airfield and Luhansk International Airport after ATACMS missile strikes. The pictures taken on October 18 show a part of the runway of the airport in Berdyansk, where helicopters used to be.