[Forbes] Russian air force regiments flying the service’s Kamov Ka-52 attack helicopters have been having a difficult war. It just got a lot more difficult.
Ukrainian air defenses have shot down at least a quarter of the 100 or so twin-rotor Ka-52s the air force operated before Russia’s wider war on Ukraine starting late February. Now Ukrainian saboteurs have damaged or destroyed another four Ka-52s at an airfield in western Russia, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence agency.
"Two Ka-52s were destroyed at the airfield in the Pskov region, and two more were seriously damaged," the intel agency claimed Monday.
It’s impossible to verify the agency’s assertion. But Russian social media users mentioned incidents involving helicopters in Pskov Oblast. And there is a video purportedly depicting the daytime sabotage. The short video depicts a man crouching alongside a Ka-52, preparing what appears to be a bomb combining an MD-5M detonator with a VZD-6Ch mechanical fuze.
The VZD-6Ch operates on a delay of up to six hours, giving a saboteur plenty of time to escape.
Ukrainian agents working in Pskov Oblast would need as much time as they can get. Veretye air base in Pskov lies 15 miles from the Russian border with Estonia, and 500 miles from Ukraine. It’s unclear how the potential saboteurs may have infiltrated Russia, but they undoubtedly traveled some distance.
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WIKI - The oblast is administratively divided into two cities and towns under the oblast jurisdiction (Pskov and Velikiye Luki) and twenty-four districts. Another twelve towns have the status of the towns of district significance.[31]