On the eve of the New Year, members of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR MO) special unit, Group 13, announced a groundbreaking achievement: for the first time in history, an aerial target was struck using the Magura V5 naval attack drone, equipped with missile weaponry. According to initial reports from intelligence officers, during a battle in the Black Sea near Cape Tarkhankut in temporarily occupied Crimea, a Russian Mi-8 helicopter was destroyed using R-73 “SeeDragon” missiles. Another Mi-8 helicopter was hit but managed to return to its base airfield. However, updated reports today reveal that not two, but three helicopters were successfully targeted.
Updated information confirms that the successful operation by Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR MO) allowed the special forces unit “Group 13” to destroy not one but two Russian Mi-8 helicopters. Preliminary reports suggest that the crews of these enemy aircraft were also eliminated.
A third Russian helicopter was hit but managed to land.
Ukrainian intelligence operatives intercepted radio communications where the pilot of the damaged Mi-8 helicopter, struck by a missile from the Magura V5 drone, described the nature and impact of the attack. The pilot stated: “There was a bang—they hit me. The launch came from the water. After that, there was another flash,” the pilot explained. “I didn’t see where the second one went, but the first came straight at me and exploded nearby—I felt it hit the helicopter, and some systems failed.”
Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (HUR), spoke on the Unified News telethon about the significance of the operation that successfully destroyed an enemy aerial target using a missile launched from the Magura V5 unmanned maritime platform.
According to Budanov, this operation is truly historic as it marks the first occurrence of its kind in global history. “Previously, during attacks on Russian aerial targets, we managed to damage them, but they somehow made it to the shoreline or even to airfields,” Budanov explained. “This time, for the first time, a helicopter was shot down and fell into the sea. The destruction of an aerial target over the waters of the Black Sea has now been officially documented.”
Additionally, reports circulating on Telegram channels suggest that on January 1, Russia lost another helicopter, a Mi-28. According to a Crimean public forum, the Mi-28 was deployed on a mission in poor weather conditions. Due to visibility issues, the Russian military allegedly mistook the helicopter for an enemy aircraft and shot down their own vehicle.
Source: gur
