A Mi-28 helicopter collapsed during a training flight in the Dzhankoy district of Crimea on Friday afternoon, May 12, according to official reports.
At 15:42 Moscow time on May 12, 2023, a Mi-28 helicopter went down while executing a planned training mission in the Dzhankoy district of the Republic of Crimea. The flight carried no ammunition, and there were no ground impacts or material damage. Both pilots were killed, according to statements from the Russian Ministry of Defense. The ministry attributed the initial cause to equipment failure and noted that a commission from the main command of the Russian Aerospace Forces was dispatched to the crash site to determine all contributing factors and circumstances.
Additionally, on the same day, there was an air defense incident in western Crimea in which a drone was shot down. The authorities confirmed that there were no casualties or injuries and that the situation remained under control, as stated by the head of the republic, Sergei Aksyonov.
About Mi-28
The Mi-28N, known in some circles as Izdeliye 294 and widely referred to as the Night Hunter, carries the NATO designation Havoc-B. This Russian attack helicopter was developed by the Moscow Helicopter Plant in the 1990s and is produced by Mil, now part of the Russian Helicopters holding. The design began in the late 1980s as a revamped version of the Soviet Mi-28 that initially did not enter service. Modern configurations of the Mi-28 are described by the Defense Ministry as capable of locating and destroying armored and unarmored vehicles, engaging low-flying targets, and suppressing enemy infantry in contested environments.
previous events
Recall the incident on April 26 near Monchegorsk in the Murmansk region, when a MiG-31 fighter crashed into a frozen lake, piercing the ice. The pilots ejected, and footage captured by local observers suggested the aircraft was engulfed in flames. This marked the tenth known event involving Russian military aircraft since the outset of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, underscoring a troubling pattern in military aviation activity.
Earlier, on October 17 of the previous year, a frontline Su-34 fighter-bomber descended into a residential area in Yeysk. A fire erupted as the jet crashed through several floors of a nine-story building. Sixteen residents were killed and forty-three injured. The Defense Ministry reported that the mishap occurred during a climb caused by an engine fire. In the days that followed, on October 23, a Su-30 fighter crashed during a test flight into a two-story wooden house in Irkutsk. Two pilots lost their lives, while residents escaped unharmed. The incident triggered a broader disruption, with power outages affecting about 150 houses in the vicinity. An official inquiry later highlighted two main possibilities: aviation equipment failure and pilot error, shaping the narrative around these disasters as authorities sought to understand the failures and prevent future tragedies.