Ukrainian Mi-24 Attack Helicopters Fly Daring Cross-Border Strike On Russia: Reports (Updated)

The raid could serve as a rallying cry for Ukrainians and as another indictment of Russia’s competency on the battlefield.

via Twitter/US Navy

Details are very limited at this time and are likely going to change as more information comes available, but reports indicate that a pair of Ukrainian Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters crossed low over the border into Russia early Friday morning and struck an oil storage facility in Belgorod. If these details stick, the pre-dawn strike is the riskiest direct attack on Russian interests outside Ukraine by Ukrainian forces since the war began five weeks ago — it would also seemingly be the first strike launched by manned aircraft against Russian territory since at least the Korean War. We must add one major caveat here before we continue on. There have been countless allegations and evidence that Russia and its proxies had or were planning on staging false-flag-like events in order to shape the narrative of the conflict and provide justification for extreme military acts. There are no major indications at this time that this attack was some sort of ploy, but it is a real possibility to always keep in mind, especially considering how poorly the invasion has gone for Russia. In other words, yes, this could turn out to be a self-inflicted wound. Early Friday morning (Ukraine local time), videos began surfacing on social media showing blacked-out Mi-24s making rocket attack runs on a large oil storage facility in Belgorod, which lies not far beyond Ukraine’s northeastern border. The oil storage tanks are seen exploding and a massive fire ensuing, one that appears to be still burning at this time.

According to The Moscow Times, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region, wrote the following in a Telegram post: 

“There was a fire at the petrol depot because of an airstrike carried out by two Ukr …

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