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This video was solely lately launched by the Ukrainian Ministry of Protection’s Chief Intelligence Directorate and exhibits views from the helicopter flight deck because the plane flew very low over the ocean and Mariupol’s docks, in addition to a short shot of the helicopter on the bottom on the Azovstal plant.
Main Common Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s navy intelligence chief, instructed The Warfare Zone web site, in an interview posted Could 25, {that a} complete of 16 Mi-8 helicopters took half in seven resupply missions, flying two at a time and as soon as 4 at a time to Azovstal. ‘“All deliveries have been profitable,’ Budanov mentioned. However on the fifth and seventh missions, two helicopters have been shot down. A 3rd helicopter coming to the rescue on a type of was additionally destroyed.”
Budanov didn’t point out when the missions have been carried out, however apparently, they befell in March and into mid-April. They apparently have been halted as soon as Russian anti-aircraft defenses turned too sturdy.
The primary public point out of the helicopter provide mission got here on April 22 when Ukrainskaya Pravda interviewed Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the Nationwide Safety and Protection Council. Danilov mentioned: “It isn’t essential to say, however I’ll let you know that once we began sending helicopters there at night time and after they requested what was obligatory, they requested for ammunition. Not water, not meals, though it was additionally delivered.”
On Could 17, the Ukrainian navy command acknowledged that the Mariupol garrison had accomplished its fight mission and ordered the commanders at Azovstal to avoid wasting the lives of the defenders. On Could 20, the final defenders had left the sprawling metal works. Russia claimed that its forces had captured 2,439 Ukrainian fighters.
That very same night, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a tv interview marking the third anniversary of his inauguration, paid tribute to the “completely heroic” pilots “who knew that it was troublesome, nearly unattainable to fly to Azovstal and convey them drugs, meals, water and our bodies (reinforcements).”
A couple of days later, Andriy Biletsky, the founder and first commander of the Azov Regiment, praised “the heroism and professionalism of Ukrainian pilots” in an interview with Ukrainskaya Pravda through which he offered extra particulars in regards to the helicopter missions to Azovstal.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Protection has mentioned the helicopters flew seven missions to resupply the Azovstal defenders. Two helicopters have been misplaced on the final two missions. Biletsky mentioned one of many Azov fighters flown in to bolster the garrison was killed in motion a day after arriving. He added that some flights carried out wounded troopers on the return leg.
Biletsky mentioned that on the final flight, a civilian medical workforce from town of Dnipro—together with a nurse, an anesthesiologist, and two surgeons—volunteered to be flown into Azovstal. “They flew, clearly realizing that the chance (of dying) is simply enormous. However they flew as a result of they understood that our folks have been dying there,” he mentioned.
“There have by no means been such operations within the historical past of mankind,” Biletsky mentioned.”Possibly after the warfare, and even in the course of the warfare, it is going to be proven as a movie. This can be a story for a film. However the man ought to inform it himself. It must be instructed by the officer, the pilot. And he has one thing to inform. He’s alive and properly.”
And that pilot instructed the story in a video launched on June 2 by the Ukrainian navy, in keeping with Ukrainskaya Pravda. The pilot, whose id was disguised within the video, mentioned: “The principle problem was that it was essential to ship the cargo into the depth of the enemy-held space, which was bigger than 100 km (60 miles). The enemy’s air protection was very dense all through this space, and it was not solely troublesome—it was nearly unattainable to realize. However follow has proven that it’s doable, and we achieved it.”
He mentioned there have been three totally different anti-aircraft missile techniques that lined the touchdown space at Azovstal, and the Ukrainian pilots needed to make use of pure and man-made obstacles en path to the touchdown website. “However all of us realized what was occurring there. That individuals did not even have drugs there to supply some primary care, there was no ammunition. It was extraordinarily essential to do it. That’s the reason everybody took this threat.”
In accordance with the pilot, the best anxiousness was felt when the crew walked to the helicopter earlier than takeoff, however as soon as underway everybody understood that they’d a mission to satisfy. “However as soon as [we arrived] in Mariupol, when the cargo was being unloaded, the sensation was considered one of euphoria. It appeared to us that since we succeeded in arriving and standing right here—inside attain of three anti-aircraft missile techniques—and we have been unloading, we’re like kings of the world, we had already gained, and all the pieces could be high-quality.
On the return leg, three minutes after take-off, the pilot mentioned his helicopter was hit by MANPADS transportable anti-aircraft missile and one engine failed. The helicopter behind his was additionally hit by a missile, crashed, and everybody aboard was killed.
“After the missile hit, we had an adrenaline rush—and we simply did what we needed to do. There have been 20 wounded on board, and we understood that if we have been to land someplace within the discipline, how would they be picked up and evacuated additional? One other helicopter could be wanted, and this may turn into an unplanned operation—so we simply flew to the touchdown website.”
With out these courageous helicopter crews finishing up resupply missions, it’s doable that the siege of Mariupol may need ended earlier than it did. Russian forces encircled the port metropolis on March 1, and the final Ukrainian defenders left Azovstal on Could 20.
In accordance with the Pentagon, at one level, as many as 12 Russian battalion tactical teams (roughly 8,800-12,000 troops if at full power) have been pinned down combating in Mariupol. These forces may have been used elsewhere for combating in southern or japanese Ukraine.
On Monday, The Related Press reported that Russia has begun turning over the our bodies of dozens of Ukrainian fighters killed on the Azovstal steelworks. The our bodies have been transferred to Kyiv, the place DNA testing is underway to determine the stays, in keeping with each a navy chief and a spokeswoman for the Azov Regiment.
On Monday, Zelenskyy confirmed that greater than 2,500 Ukrainian troopers who have been defending the Azovstal plant are presently held by Russia. He instructed a information convention that the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Protection is engaged on liberating them by means of a prisoner trade.
“We all know what it’s like to chop offers with Russia, we all know the value we must pay. We all know that they can’t be trusted. …The Chief Intelligence Directorate has to proceed engaged on this difficulty and has to discover a answer. There is just one doable answer—to return these folks dwelling,” Zelenskyy mentioned.
The Ukrainian flag that fluttered over Azovstal in the course of the siege has been transferred to the Nationwide Museum of the Historical past of Ukraine in Kyiv.
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