Ukraine shoots down two Russian choppers in three minutes

Ukraine shot down two Russian attack helicopters in just three minutes in the final blow to Putin’s failed invasion.

Anti-aircraft fire hit the Ka-52 Alligators in the Kherson region last night, the Ukrainian Air Force said.

Nicknamed the ‘Black Shark’, the £12 million single-seat combat helicopter has been described as Russia’s ‘deadliest helicopter’.

Its battlefield management system allows it to share data with other aircraft to coordinate attack operations.

The attack came just weeks after Ukrainian forces shot down four Russian helicopters in 18 minutes.

Ukraine also blew up an Mi-8 attack helicopter in Donetsk after a surface-to-air missile picked it up from the sky yesterday.

Footage shows a Russian attack helicopter flying low over a field before being hit by a missile in Donetsk

Footage shows the Russian combat helicopter flying low over a field before being hit by a missile that explodes on impact, but the helicopter continues to fly for some time with flames gushing from its left side.

The helicopter starts to emit black smoke then crashes into a fireball in a field and rolls onto its roof as the rotor breaks off.

The footage was obtained on Monday, October 31 from the 54th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, along with a statement that the footage was filmed on the ‘administrative borders of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions’.

They added: “Somehow a Russian helicopter has flown in to kill Ukrainian families, but the skies are tightly controlled by the glorious soldiers of the anti-aircraft missile division of the 54th Separate Mechanized Brigade.

The rocket explodes on impact, but the helicopter continues to fly for some time with flames gushing from the left side

The helicopter starts emitting black smoke then crashes into a fireball in a field, rolls onto its roof as the rotor breaks off

Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces shot down 45 of the 55 cruise missiles yesterday and shot down another Ka-52 alligator.

“The soldiers saw a strange ‘bird’ in the sky and did what they had to do – they ‘destroyed the noxious fly’ along with its crew.”

They signed off with ‘Glory to Ukraine!’

In October, Ukraine carried out a similar rampage in which four helicopters were shot down in the south of the country in 18 minutes.

The helicopters – believed to be Soviet-era KA-52 models – were shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile units.

During his evening speech, Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces shot down 45 of the 55 cruise missiles yesterday and that another Ka-52 alligator had been shot down.

“Today, our Air Force and everyone involved in airspace protection did an excellent job,” Zelensky said. “Most of the objects the terrorists identified as targets have been rescued.”

Ukraine claims that Russia has now lost about 72,470 personnel, 2,698 tanks, 5,501 armored fighting vehicles, 1,730 artillery units, 383 multiple missile systems, 197 air defense systems, 276 combat aircraft, 257 helicopters, 1,415 drones, 397 cruise missiles, 16 warships, 4,143. motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 154 units of special equipment.

Russia has claimed casualties were much lower, but rarely provides updates on the latest figures.

A dog walks past a crater in the way of a missile strike as the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, in the eastern Donbas region of Drobysheve

A view shows debris from a residential house destroyed by a Russian missile attack in Mykolaiv

A ruined bridge to the Orthodox Christian monastery The Holy Dormition Svyatogorsk Lavra over the Siverskyi Donets River is seen

Just north of Kherson, Russia fired four rockets into the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv overnight, destroying half a block of flats.

Reuters saw rescuers pull the body of an elderly woman from the rubble.

While the rush was underway, passers-by walked past a two-story school, the front of which had been torn off by the force of the blast that had left a huge crater.

“This is what the barbarian horde is doing,” said Irena Siden, 48, the school’s deputy principal, standing in front of the gutted building as workers began to sweep up the rubble.

“They (the Russians) are the descendants of the barbarian horde. They stole our history and how they are trying to steal our culture.’

Russia fired a massive volley of missiles at Ukrainian cities on Monday in retaliation for an attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet over the weekend.

Ukraine said it shot down most of those missiles, but some had hit power plants, cutting off electricity and water supplies.

“That’s not all we could have done,” Putin said at a televised news conference.