Russian Ka-27 helicopter destroyed in Crimea. Fate of crew unknown

Dmytro Pletenchuk, the spokesman of the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, reported on his Facebook page that a russian Ka-27 helicopter was destroyed in occupied Crimea.

"Minus the russian Ka-27 in Crimea. It was looking for something. It found," he wrote.

Pletenchuk later clarified his words about the destruction of the enemy Ka-27 in a commentary for Radio Svoboda, and also stated that the fate of the crew is currently unknown.

"From the available information, we can say that there was an explosion of this aircraft in the air. The reasons have not yet been established. I am not yet ready to provide verified information on this matter. The search operation was ongoing. Other helicopters were involved. The Raptor boat was involved. Regarding the fate of the crew there is no information either. All this happened not far from Chornomorske," Pletenchuk said.

He clarified that as of this morning the search operation was still ongoing. The events themselves took place at dawn today.

"These events are included in the newly chosen tactics of the new leadership of the Black Sea Fleet. By the way, this is constantly being asked. Yes, we can add that, in addition to the fact that they guessed to use a submarine, they are also strengthening the air component. And precisely in order to patrol the coast to detect potential dangers in advance, and as I said, due to the increased use of aviation, including quite old ones, the number of cases like today will increase," the spokesman added.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the Defense Forces destroyed the enemy portable rocket launcher Grad-P and the warehouse of ammunition, which the troops of the aggressor country of the russian federation used for strikes on Ochakiv, Mykolaiv Region.

On April 8, explosions were heard in the Odesa Region - the Defense Forces destroyed 2 russian Orlan-10 reconnaissance UAVs.

It was also reported that on April 7, the Defense Forces destroyed 2 reconnaissance drones of the russians of the Supercam and Orlan-10 types over the Black Sea.