Two boys aged 13 and 14 blow up a £1million Russian helicopter after one of their fathers was called up to fight in Ukraine
Two schoolboys from Noyabrsk are accused of blowing up a £1 million helicopter, causing serious damage and leading to their arrest.
Russian law enforcement alleges that Timur, 13, and Sasha, 14, were behind the sabotage, which left the Mi-8T helicopter “almost completely destroyed” in a fiery explosion.
Reports say the boys used lit cigarettes and liquid fuel to set fire to the helicopter, which is regularly used for maintenance of key oil and gas infrastructure in Siberia’s Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region.
According to reports from media outlet BAZA, which has close ties to Russian law enforcement, the boys claimed they had been paid around £42,000 via the Telegram messaging app as a reward for carrying out the attack.
It remains unclear who made the offer, but one theory suggests The teenagers may have thought that with this act they could somehow bring home the father of one of the boys, who had been called up to fight in the war in Ukraine.
Two schoolboys from Noyabrsk are accused of blowing up a £1million helicopter, causing serious damage and leading to their arrest
Russian law enforcement alleges that Timur, 13, and Sasha, 14, were behind the sabotage, which left the Mi-8T helicopter (pictured) ‘almost completely destroyed’
Both teens suffered severe burns to their faces and hands in the incident and sought medical attention, which ultimately led to their arrest.
They are now being watched by armed guards while they are treated at a local hospital.
The boys had previously claimed they had been paid £250 to destroy a mobile phone mast, a task they had already completed before attacking the helicopter.
Investigators discovered that they had entered the heliport through a hole in the fence to carry out their plan.
A criminal case has now been opened in response to the explosion.
It comes as the Kremlin has warned that it will launch an “appropriate response” if Ukraine uses Western missiles to attack Russian territory.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has increasingly called on the West to allow its forces to deploy long-range weapons, including U.S. ATACMS missiles, against Russian territory to counter the 30-month-old invasion of his country.
US President Joe Biden said last night that his administration was “thinking about it now” when asked whether he would lift restrictions on Kiev’s use of missiles such as ATACMS.
Both teens suffered severe burns to their faces and hands during the incident and sought medical attention, which ultimately led to their arrest.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that Vladimir Putin’s forces would demand a “suitable response” if Ukraine were allowed to use Western missiles.
Peskov added that “there is no reason to expect a reaction everywhere.”
“The SMO (Special Military Operation) is the answer to all these actions,” Peskov said, using the Kremlin’s preferred term for the conflict in Ukraine.
“Each of these decisions, taken by the collective West and then attributed to Ukraine, is further confirmation of the justification, necessity and inevitability of the SMO.”