Russia Forced to Change Ka-52 Helicopter Tactics After Slew of Losses: Kyiv

Russia is being forced to change how its Ka-52 helicopters are operating in the Ukraine war after suffering significant losses, a Ukrainian official said on Thursday.

Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Tavria group of forces covering the Donetsk town of Avdiivka, explained Moscow's change in tactics during an appearance on Svoboda.Ranok, a project from Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty.

Russia has lost a significant number of its helicopters since President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, publicly available data suggests. The Ka-52, known as the "Alligator" by Russia and "Hokum-B" by NATO, has been described by military experts as one of Russia's most capable attack helicopters.

"At this stage, we are destroying them with missile attacks," Shtupun said, adding that Moscow's forces have been forced to switch tactics and launch attacks with Ka-52 helicopters from far away.

"The Russians are not currently entering the effective range of our air defense," he said. "Our soldiers have learned to shoot them down quite professionally. So the Russians are launching their attacks from afar.

"These helicopters are far less effective at a considerable distance than if they flew closer. The Russians are simply afraid now."

According to the British Royal Air Force (RAF), Russia had 899 helicopters at the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The latest figures from the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, note that since the war began, Moscow has lost 324 helicopters.

Newsweek hasn't been able to independently verify Ukraine's figures. Estimates of military casualties in the conflict vary widely, with the numbers provided by Kyiv usually outstripping those given by its Western allies. Russia rarely releases figures on its own troop or equipment losses, but when it does, its estimates are far lower than those of Ukraine.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian defense ministry for comment via email.

Dutch open-source intelligence defense analysis website Oryx has visually confirmed that Russia has lost 115 helicopters since the start of the conflict in Ukraine. It said that 100 have been destroyed, 13 were damaged and two captured.

According to Oryx, Moscow has lost 49 Ka-52 helicopters in the conflict so far.

Ukraine also claimed this week to have destroyed nine helicopters in attacks on two of Moscow's military airfields in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces used longer-range ballistic missiles fired from Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) donated by Washington.

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