Incredible moment Ukraine blasts Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter out of the sky sending it crashing to the ground in latest humiliation for Putin

This is the incredible moment when the armed forces of Ukraine shot down a Russian attack helicopter, causing it to crash to the ground.

In the final humiliation for Vladimir Putin and his generals, a video taken from the ground shows the Russian Ka-52 Alligator being shot down over the battlefield at Robotyne, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.

A second, not seen in the clip, was also reportedly shot in the same region.

Dramatic wartime footage shows the Ka-52 flying over the region on another helicopter before erupting into a ball of black smoke without warning.

The damage appears to be so severe that the helicopter makes no attempt to stay airborne, but immediately plummets to the ground at high speed as part of the aircraft flies off in a different direction.

The camera follows it all the way to the ground where it falls below a tree line.

After a split-second delay, a massive fireball is seen erupting from the spot where it landed, before more thick black smoke rises into the sky.

The pilot of the other two helicopters sees the fate of his fellow pilots and flies forward at high speed to get out of the dangerous area.

The fate of the pilot in the first helicopter was unclear.

It was not clear whether the other helicopter seen in the first clip was the same second helicopter that was reportedly later shot down by Ukrainian forces.

Another fragment seemed to confirm that one had been shot down by a portable air defense missile system fired by Ukraine’s 47th Mechanized Brigade.

The second clip showed black smoke rising from the downed helicopter after it crashed in the field.

A video contains a voice saying: ‘We got it, got it….’ followed by expletives.

Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk claimed a second near the blitzkrieg town of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.

He posted: ‘One less Russian Ka-52 on the Bakhmut front this morning.

“Thanks to the Air Force Air Defense Unit for a successful combat operation.”

Hailed by the Kremlin as “the best attack helicopter in the world,” the Ka-52 gave Ukraine headaches in the early days of the war.

However, Kiev forces quickly adapted and have since claimed to have shot many from the sky, with a number of clips showing their destruction.

According to the military blog Oryxcounting Russian and Ukrainian losses based on visual confirmation, Moscow has lost 41 of its Ka52s since February 2022.

The helicopters cost £12.5 million.

Neither side has succeeded in gaining air supremacy over the other in the 18-month war, as both Ukraine and Russia boast significant air defenses.

Ukraine has pleaded with Western countries to send F-16 fighter jets to help the country continue its ongoing counter-offensive against the invaders.

On Friday, the Dutch defense minister announced that the United States has given the country permission to deliver the fighter jets to Kiev.

The decision represents a major gain for Kiev, even though the fighter jets will have no immediate impact on the nearly 18-month war.

“I welcome the US decision to clear the way for the delivery of F-16 jets to Ukraine. It enables us to continue training Ukrainian pilots,” Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“We remain in close contact with European partners to decide on the next steps.”

Ukraine has long advocated for the refined fighter to give it a combat advantage. It recently launched a long-awaited counter-offensive against Kremlin forces with no air cover, leaving its forces at the mercy of Russian aviation and artillery.

In addition to supplying the fighter jets, Ukraine’s allies must also train their pilots. Washington says the F-16s, like advanced US Abrams tanks, will be crucial in the long run as Kiev faces Russia.

The Netherlands is part of a Western coalition that also includes Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom, which promised in July to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s.

Washington must give its blessing because the planes are made in the United States.

Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said in a post on X that the US’s permission to send F-16s to Ukraine “is an important milestone” in Ukraine’s defense.

It was not immediately clear when the first F-16s could be delivered to Ukraine.

Like the Netherlands, Denmark said in June that training for Ukrainian pilots had begun and that the country was considering supplying jets to Kiev.

However, the pilots will require six to eight months of training before a possible aircraft donation can become a reality.

In a statement to Danish media, Defense Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen said the government has said several times that a donation was “a natural step after training.”

Meanwhile, Russia’s air defense halted drone attacks on central Moscow and on the country’s ships in the Black Sea, officials said Friday, blaming Ukraine for the attack attempts.

Defense systems shot down a Ukrainian drone over central Moscow early Friday and some fragments fell on an exhibition center, Russia’s defense ministry said in a statement.

It said the drone was shot down around 04:00 (0100 GMT) and there were no injuries or fires caused by the fragments.

However, flights were briefly suspended at all four of Moscow’s major airports.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said some fragments fell on the grounds of the Expocentre, an exhibition complex adjacent to Moscow City’s commercial and office complex that was hit by drones twice in the past month.

The area is located about 4 kilometers west of the Kremlin. The defense ministry called the latest incident “another terrorist attack by the Kiev regime.”

Naval forces also destroyed a Ukrainian naval drone that attempted to attack Russian ships in the Black Sea, about 150 miles southwest of Sevastopol, on Thursday night, the ministry said.

The drone was knocked out by fire from a patrol boat and a corvette, it said.

It was not possible to verify the claims.