Ukrainian forces shot down a Russian Ka-52 "Alligator" attack helicopter on Tuesday morning, according to Ukraine's military.
Ukraine's 38th Separate Marine Brigade took out the Ka-52 at 7.43 a.m. local time, Ukraine's marines said in a post to Facebook on Tuesday, also reported by the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces.
It is not yet confirmed whether any Russian personnel were killed, and Moscow has not commented on the report. Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
In figures published earlyon Tuesday morning, Ukraine's General Staff said Russia has lost 310 helicopters. Including the helicopter Ukraine said Moscow lost around 8 a.m. local time on Tuesday, Russia has lost 311 helicopters since February 2022, by Kyiv's count. However, this overall figure does not specify how many Ka-52 helicopters were lost.
According to Dutch open-source intelligence outlet Oryx, Russia has lost 38 of its prized Ka-52 attack helicopters since the outbreak of all-out war last year. However, this tally may be lower than the true count, as it only includes visually-verified losses.
The Ka-52 "Alligator" is an effective attack helicopter, often compared to the U.S. military's Apache, Karolina Hird, a Russia analyst with the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for the Study of War think tank, previously told Newsweek.
It is an all-weather, day and night twin-seat aircraft that is a much improved later model of the Ka-50, according to the U.S. military. It can fire anti-tank missiles, air-to-air guided missiles, and be fitted with 30-millimeter armament.
The Ka-52 has a maximum speed of around 300 kilometers per hour, or 186 miles per hour, according to Russian state military exporter, Rosoboronexport. The Ka-52 is designed to target tanks, different types of military vehicles and enemy manpower, as well as helicopters.
Russia had 90 Ka-52 attack helicopters in operation, and had lost at least 23 of this fleet in the first nine months of the war in Ukraine, the British Defense Ministry said on October 25, 2022. This meant Russia had lost over a quarter of its in-service fleet, the government department said. Attack helicopters in Ukraine have been particularly vulnerable to Ukrainian portable air defenses, the U.K. Defense Ministry added at the time.
Ukraine has frequently publicized reports of the Ka-52 "Alligators" being shot down by Kyiv's fighters. Ukraine's air force said in January that its forces had shown down three Ka-52 helicopters in just 30 minutes over the contested Donetsk region, in eastern Ukraine.
Update 07/25/23, 7:30 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
