At Russian President Vladimir Putin's first visit to the newly liberated Kursk Region earlier this week, his helicopter suddenly came under attack in the midst of a massive Ukrainian drone strike, a Russian military commander revealed.
Yury Dashkin, the commander of an air defence brigade, explained to Russia 1 in an interview aired on Sunday that the helicopter of the President was "in the epicentre of an operation to repel a massive enemy drone attack" when flying over Kursk Region. Regardless of how violent the attack was, local air defence troops managed to thwart the attack and protect Putin's aircraft, explained Dashkin.
Putin visited Kursk Region on Tuesday, his first such trip since the region was retaken from Ukrainian troops in April. During the trip, he spoke with Governor Aleksandr Khinshtein, municipal officials, and volunteers helping those affected by the previous Ukrainian advance, according to the Kremlin.
Meanwhile, Ukraine conducted what Dashkin called an "unprecedented" UAV attack of the area. Russian air defenses allegedly knocked down 46 incoming fixed-wing drones when the incident occurred.
Dashkin underscored, "I would like to point out the fact that the number of attacks during the flight of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's plane over the Kursk Region territory grew appreciably." He also elucidated that air defence forces had to "at the same time perform anti-aircraft battle and provide cover for the President's helicopter in flight," a task they achieved by eliminating all aggressive aerial objects.
As per Russian sources, Ukraine has significantly intensified drone attacks within Russian borders over the course of the last week. The Russian Foreign Ministry posted that 764 drones were shot down above Russia alone from Tuesday until Friday. In the meantime, the Defence Ministry indicated that the attack did not cease, with hundreds more UAVs being downed on Saturday and Sunday.
