16 Ukraine soldiers were killed in deadly checkpoint attack. Ukrainian Air Force helicopters strafed their own troops? Most probably, no.
A Ukrainian checkpoint at Blagodatnoe village, near the town of Volnovakha, was assaulted on May 22. 16 soldiers were killed and about 30 wounded.
According to RT, the attackers arrived in transit vans, with combat helicopters providing cover for them.
The attackers began shooting at the soldiers at the checkpoint and one of the shells hit an ammunition depot, causing a huge explosion.
Some eyewitnesses captured the events unfold on video. One of these videos shows Mil Mi-24 Hind gunships flying at very low altitude above the area, deploying flares.
Here’s an another video which shows the same scene from the ground. This video is even more interesting as it shows the attack from the soldiers point of view. The footage clearly shows the helicopters flying at ultra-low altitude in the aftermath of the massive explosion.
According to some sources, the helicopters that can be seen in the video strafed the Ukrainian soldiers at the checkpoint in a blue-on-blue episode.
However, both videos may show a different story.
They arrived over the checkpoint after the first explosion. Then they circled in the vicinity deploying flares, most probably because they were concerned by MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems).
There is no evidence any of the helicopters really fired and the gun fire that can be heard in the footage may come from the ground.
Obviously, the entire scene must have been confusing from the air and on the ground, hence the reports of friendly fire or mutiny.
H/T to Steppen Wolf for sending the links and providing additional information.
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The official version is that the gunships and a medevac helicopter were called in support of the Ukrainian troops under attack at the checkpoint. The big explosion is a an armored vehicle that took fire after being damaged by AT missile, you can see the same vehicle in others videos.
Listen to the soldiers what they are talking.
Nice analysis, but I’m not so sure that the Hinds didn’t fire. The sounds at 3:56-4:00 sounds very much like machinecannon fire to me.
This is the so called “fog of war” in which often confusion is often common.
3:56-4:00 IS fire from gatling MG 12,7mm
Strange how Ukrainian aircraft and troops attacking their own people is not deemed important enough to be reported on this site but, them attacking Ukrainian troops, is!
That’s normal for those backing the violent regime in Kiev. Another example of their inherent, double standards.
“Two [Mi-]24s and one [Mi-]8 arrived. They are flying over
our checkpoint and shooting at our checkpoint,” the report
continues. “There are lots of corpses there. We were dousing
the burning BMP [infantry combat vehicle], we thought the Mi-8
was going to pick up the bodies. Now they are shooting.”
The Hinds make several obvious strafing passes in the 2nd video………didn’t watch the first.