Day: May 26, 2025

Vladimir Putin’s helicopter was forced to shoot down drones while he was aboard, a Moscow official said on Sunday.

The Russian president’s aircraft was involved in an “air defence battle” after an “unprecedented Ukrainian drone assault”, Maj Gen Yuri Dashkin, an air defence commander, told state television.

The incident was said to have happened last week when the Russian leader was on a tour of Kursk, part of which Ukraine previously occupied.

“During the period when the president was working in the Kursk region, the enemy launched an unprecedented attack with unmanned aerial vehicles,” Maj Gen Dashkin said in an interview with Rossiya-24 television.

He added: “We simultaneously conducted an air defence battle and ensured the safety of the presidential helicopter’s flight in the air.”

Russian forces destroyed several Ukrainian drones during the operation, Maj Gen Dashkin claimed.

“The task was accomplished,” he said. “The attack of the enemy drones was repelled, and all air targets were hit.”

Ukraine has not responded to the claims. If verified, the timing of the drone attack would suggest Ukrainian forces had advance intelligence about Putin’s visit to the war zone.

The Kremlin did not publicly disclose the trip until after Putin had left the region.

Wearing a smart suit, Putin met volunteers, municipal leaders and acting governor Alexander Khinshtein during the visit on Tuesday.

He also inspected construction of the Kursk-II nuclear power plant, in his first visit to the region since April 26.

On his visit to a command post in Kursk in March, he wore olive green military fatigues.

Putin was believed to be travelling in an Mi-17 helicopter, an evolution of the Soviet-era Mi-8.

The Mi-17 is 82ft long and can carry up to 30 passengers or four tons of cargo. It is equipped with defensive systems including infrared jammers, flare dispensers and armoured plating around critical components, designed to counter heat-seeking missiles and small-arms fire.

However, the helicopter’s defensive systems are not normally powerful enough to resist co-ordinated drone attacks. Escorts and ground-based protection are needed for risky flights.

Ukrainian forces launched a significant ground incursion into Kursk in August 2024 and seized territory before Russian counter-offensives pushed them back months later.

Following the shock incursion, Putin poured in tens of thousands of Russian troops, with the help of a North Korean deployment, to break Kyiv’s hold on the frontier territory.

Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff for Russia’s armed forces, said his troops had pushed Ukrainians out of the territory while fighting “shoulder to shoulder” with North Koreans.

Ukraine has increasingly used drones to strike targets deep inside Russia, including oil refineries, military airfields and government facilities.

Russian air defence systems have faced increasing pressure as Ukraine expands its drone operations.

The frequency and scale of Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory have grown significantly since the conflict’s early months.

In May 2023, Ukrainian drones damaged the Kremlin’s Senate Palace. The unprecedented attack on the very symbol of Russian statehood sent shock-waves well beyond Moscow.

The helicopter attack would mark one of the most direct attempts to target Putin personally since the war began.

Unlike Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, who frequently visits the front line, Putin has largely avoided combat zones over the past three years.

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