Russia moves helicopters from occupied Berdiansk to Taganrog after Ukrainian army strikes on airfield - media. PHOTOS
Following the ATACMS strike on the airfield on 17 October, Russia moved Ka-52 and Mi-8 helicopters from occupied Berdiansk to the Taganrog airbase.
According to Censor.NET, this was reported by Defense Express, citing images released by military analyst Brady Afrik.
A military analyst has published evidence that Russian helicopters have been redeployed from Berdiansk to Taganrog. A satellite image shows that on 31 October, the occupiers concentrated their 21 Ka-52 and Mi-8 helicopters at the Taganrog airbase.
It is alleged that these were the same helicopters that the Russian army kept at the airport of occupied Berdiansk before the Ukrainian army's strike using ATACMS on 17 October, and which were withdrawn as of 29 October, less than two weeks after the strike.
The image allows us to assess only the fact of the sudden appearance of so many helicopters at the Taganrog base, which was previously used as a site for Su-25SM3. At the same time, it is not known whether the Russians brought the damaged helicopters there by land or whether the surviving helicopters flew there on their own to support Russian troops in other areas.
"If we measure the distance to the front line, it is up to 130 kilometres from Taganrog to Volnovakha, and approximately 120 kilometres from the temporarily occupied Berdiansk to the front line in the Zaporizhzhia sector. The claimed practical range of the Ka-52 is up to 480 kilometres," notes Defence Express.
We should also not rule out the possibility that the occupiers want to use Taganrog not only as a new landing site for their attack helicopters, but also as a kind of "staging area" for repairing their army aircraft in the event of new ATACMS strikes by the Ukrainian Defence Forces on airfields.
There is an aircraft repair plant in Taganrog, but its only known specialisation so far has been the repair and maintenance of A-50 and A-50U radar surveillance aircraft.
As a reminder, on 17 October, the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported an operation in occupied Berdiansk and Luhansk and claimed "significant losses" on the Russian side. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported a strike on helicopters and equipment of the Russian army at two occupied airfields.
