Ukrainians Cheer After Shooting down Russian Chopper with Launcher: Video

A video has emerged purporting to show a Russian helicopter being shot down by Ukrainian forces, with cheers being heard in the background.

Ukraine's Operational Command South (OCS) confirmed to Ukrinform on Saturday that a Russian Ka-52 "Alligator" helicopter had been shot down over Kherson, a southern region located just to the north of Crimea. The successful strike was carried out by one of the country's anti-aircraft brigades.

"On October 22, around 12:00, in the Berislav district of Kherson region, a unit of the Odesa anti-aircraft missile brigade of Air Command South shot down a Ka-52 attack helicopter flown by the occupiers," a statement from OCS said.

A Twitter account with the username OSINTtechnical shared a clip on Tuesday afternoon purporting to show Ukrainian soldiers shooting down a Russian helicopter with a rocket launcher. Though Newsweek was unable to confirm that the strike in the video is the same one reported on Saturday, details shared by the account appear to match up with the report, including the location and the make of the helicopter. The account also said the team that shot down the craft was a MANPADS, or man-portable air-defense system.

The clip, which runs just under 30 seconds, begins with several men on a piece of aged road. The man in the center of the frame is seen firing a rocket from a large armament over his shoulder, and the camera quickly moves to follow the rocket's trajectory into the horizon. After a few seconds, a small flash is visible far off in the distance from where the men are standing, indicating that the target was hit. Men are seen jubilantly cheering the successful strike for the remainder of the clip.

As of Monday evening, the clip had been viewed over 316,900 times and received nearly 9,000 likes.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported on Monday that two more Ka-52 helicopters had been shot down by Ukrainian forces, in the span of time between 1:30 and 1:30 p.m. local time. Both of the aircrafts went down over the Kherson region, making them additional candidates for the craft shot down in the video shared by OSINTtechnical.

"On October 24, from 13:00 to 13:30, units of the Odesa and Kherson anti-aircraft missile brigades of the Air Command South of the Air Force shot down two Ka-52 attack helicopters in the Beryslav district of the Kherson region," the Air Force reported in a Telegram post.

Newsweek reached out to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense for comment.