According to Defense blog, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the incident and said the helicopter did not carry ammunition when it fell in an area far from residential areas.
Immediately after the accident, search and rescue forces quickly arrived at the scene, while an investigation team from the Russian Aerospace Forces is investigating the cause of the incident. There is currently no official information on the cause of the plane crash.
The Mi-28 is an attack helicopter developed during the Soviet era, with the first prototype released in 1982. However, the mass production process only started in 2006. Russia has built nearly 130 Mi-28, of which about 110 are operated by the Russian Aerospace Forces, the rest are exported to Algeria, Iraq and Uganda.
The Mi-28 helicopter has a crew of two, reaching a maximum speed of 320 km/h, a combat radius of 200 km and a maximum range of 1,100 km. The aircraft is equipped with a modern aviation electronic system, a solid armored frame and is responsible for attacking armored vehicles as well as ground targets with 30 mm automatic fireworks, anti-tank missiles and rockets.
Before the accident on March 18, the Russian Aerospace Forces had lost a total of 6 Mi-28s due to unrelated combat incidents since 2009. Most recently, a Mi-28NM crashed invoronezh province on January 1, also killing two pilots.
In addition to technical problems, at least seven Russian Mi-28s were shot down by the Ukrainian army. Of these, six were shot down in the first two months of the conflict, and another was shot down in May 2023.
