1/It’s long overdue, but here we go – russian aircraft losses in Chernobaivka c. 12-16 of March. Unfortunately I didn't document the sources of all the images, since I didn't plan on publishing this analysis and catalogued it for myself.
2/Saying that, let's begin. Following is the most recent sat imagery of Kherson a/p before 24-Feb-2022 I managed to find. It consists of Esri sat images dated to between Oct-2021 and end of Nov-2021, judging by the already laid asphalt, but lack of markings that appeared in Dec.
3/1st ref photo - before the end of Nov. 2nd ref photo - before the end of Dec. Red numbers on the sat image - Ukr helicopters that remain stationary through Feb-Mar 2022. rus.lb.ua/economics/2021… avianews.com/ukraine/2021/1…
4/Blue numbers - Ukr helicopters that either weren't present on the field at the time of the invasion or were moved to alternative locations on the field.
Pay attention - the majority are parked on the south and north-east pads.
5/Capella Space image, dated 6-Mar-2022. It's a bit tricky, by you can positively identify the 12 Ukr helicopters from previous sat image. The rest with the exception of up to 4-5 pieces are safely assumed to be russian. Pay special attention to the enclosed area.
6/Planet Lab image, dated 12-Mar-2022. A very low resolution, but there is visible scorching of the ground and the pads within the green-dash polygon.
7/Part of the larger sat image by Planet Lab dated 15-Mar-2022. We can see the results of an attack that occurred no later than 12-Mar. The scorching matches the 12-Mar sat image. Some of the wrecks are located almost on the exact spots as some of the helis on the 6-Mar image.
8/Another detail that supports the claim that the outlined area served russian helicopters is the dug in support equipment around the west flight control tower (fuel trucks, etc) that wasn't there prior to the invasion.
9/I don't know were the rest of the helicopters, captured on the 6-Mar sat image, were moved to, but if I had to guess, I'd say that something happened between the 6th and the 12th of March that forced the russians to move them, maybe closer to the civilian terminal.
10/And here comes the 15th of March. Planet Labs image. Judging by the video footage from Ukr TB2 ucav, the image was taken sometime after 1252PM, UTC +2, given the time was set correctly.
Reds: Ukr helis that can be seen on 2021 images
11/Greens: suspected as Ukr helicopters that were moved sometime before the invasion or by russian soldiers
Yellows: suspected as ru helicopters
Note, yellow 39-47 were discussed previously and were probably destroyed/damaged no later than 12-Mar
White "A": a fuel truck!
12/Summary so far:
Judging by the lack of impact craters on the ref Maxar image, it was taken before 15-Mar, thus the impacts (between 37 and 38 and behind 36) occurred on or slightly before 15-Mar and 35-38 are probably damaged at this point.
13/29, 30, 45 - were most likely helicopters, but I have some doubt regarding 45.
31, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 - are certainly destroyed
44, 46 - damaged
14/Moving on. The famous russian "on the ground" video of the results. If I identified correctly the 26 and the 32, the video was recorded sometime after PL's sat image, following the second wave of shelling, but still on the 15th.
15/Meanwhile I'll stick with numbers and later I'll try to identify at least some of them, although this video alone gives away plenty, like Mi-28N (33,34), Mi-28N/UB? (28), Mi-24/35 (36), Mi-8 (25,35)
16/Next image. Unfortunately, this is an example of undocumented source, but I think this image was made by Planet Labs. Anyway, the date is 16-Mar and the hour is given as 0510. Although I can't tell if it's UTC+2 or +0, you can see it's sunrise.
27,28,37 towed away
17/Second wave seemed to cause additional losses.
Here we can see 23,24,26,32 join the certain losses. 25 is probably damaged.
White "A" is an exploded fuel truck I've marked and mentioned earlier.
18/Maxar sat image. No earlier than midday of the 16th and no later than the 21st of March. 33 and 34 Mi-28N also towed away.
19/Another "sourceless" image, dated 21-Mar. "Clean up" is complete. No more aircraft destroyed, damaged or otherwise near the civilian terminal.
20/Maxar sat image dated 07-Apr. No visible presence of ru aviation on the airfield. Clean up is complete on both the north-west pads and the civilian terminal.
21/Quantitative summary of ru losses in Chornobaivka:
23,24,26,29,30,31,32,39,40,41,42,43 – destroyed (12)
25 – badly damaged (1)
27,28,33,34,35,36,37,38,44,46 – damaged to some extent (10)
45 – unidentified
Correction: I should've defined the period 7-16 of March. @Rebel44CZ
22/Forgot to mention, you'd need to expand the sat images outside of twitter to see the details and my annotations, since twitter still doesn't allow to zoom in.
I'll continue this thread later with identification attempts.
23/I'm far from being perfectly sure, but let's try. Ru helis that were hit no later than 12-Mar (likely on 7-Mar).
Let's start with the obvious - 45 is not a helicopter, but some kind of a truck.
44 & 46 are Ka-52's (possibly damaged).
47 is Mi-8 (probably undamaged).
24/39-43 are much more tricky.
43 is either Mi-8 or Mi-24, judging by the horizontal stabilizers, but is much wider compared to the Ukr Mi-24 parked to the east, so naturally my bet is Mi-8.
Compared side by side, the tail booms of 39,40,42&43 are nearly the same length,
25/so probably Mi-8's as well.
41 can be anything, i.e., Mi-8/24/28.
However, the safest bet would be to classify 39-43 as Mi-8/24/28 altogether.
And yes, when I say Mi-8, 24 or 28 I imply all their sub-variants.
26/Civilian terminal 15/16-Mar. Based on the video (#14,#15) we know the following with high degree of certainty:
33,34 - Mi-28N
28 - Mi-28NM/UB? (mast mounted antenna is visible on both the video and the sat image, although poorly)
36 - Mi-24
25,35 - Mi-8
27/Referencing the previously identified helis and comparing the shadow patterns on the sat image it's possible to identify the following:
32 - Mi-28
26 - Mi-8
27 - Mi-28NM/UB? (although could be N)
37,38 - Mi-24
23,24 - Ka-52 (size comparison and rotor config)
29,30,31 - unknown
Qualitative summary:
Destroyed:
2 x Ka-52
1 x Mi-8
1 x Mi-28
5 x Mi-8/24/28
3 x Unidentified
Badly damaged:
1 x Mi-8
Damaged to some extent:
4 x Mi-28 (2 of which are likely NM/UB)
1 x Mi-8
3 x Mi-24
2 x Ka-52 @Rebel44CZ
Video reportedly from Kherson dated 18-Mar shows towing of 2 x Mi-28N (one of which has clearly damaged tail rotor), 1 x Mi-8MTV-5/AMTSh and 1 x Mi-35M
30/Another video dated 18-Mar as well shows Mi-24 (or sub-variant) being towed. Could be the same helicopter from the previous video or another Hind.
That's all, Folks!
31/P.S.
Maybe I'm just trying to convince myself, but the more I look at 42 and 43 the more they resemble the reference Mi-8, independent of the horizontal stabilizers clue of 43.
Or maybe I need to rest 😅
32/P.P.S.
Apparently one of the helicopters damaged during the attacks on the airfield. Pay attention to Mi-28 in the background. Unclear if it was shot while still in Kherson Int AP or elsewhere, after the evacuation. Could anyone attempt to geolocate?
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1/Achievement unlocked, russians confirmed a damaged aerial relay Il-22 (probably Il-22M-11). According to MK, on 3-Apr-22 the aircraft was hit by 2 Buk missiles over Ukrainian territory and managed to rtb, sustaining damage to the cockpit, the tail, hydraulics/oil systems and
2/onboard fire. Allegedly there were no casualties and the aircraft was deemed repairable after inspection. Although, if you ask me, it sounds like a really long and exhausting repair. mk.ru/politics/2022/…
3/And wouldn't you know, the UAF reported on 4-Apr-22 that the day before, they managed to hit/shoot down 4 aircraft - Il-22, Su-34, Su-35 (a confirmed loss) and a helicopter. The intercepted comms from the Il-22 allegedly mentioned damage to the cockpit. t.me/kpszsu/797
Apparently we have another shot down Su-35S. The photos were published on 4-Feb-23, but the exact date nor the exact location of the wreckage are unknown. Possibly Kherson obl, but far from certain.
And no, this isn't the same Su-35S from Apr.
Thanks, @aloha9916 & @duke_garland
By Tiktok user gesser78
Looks like this is indeed the FF incident from July. Hence, it's a second confirmed Su-35S, but not a new documented loss.
"1 Unknown Su-30/Su-34/Su-35" in the list. @Rebel44CZ@oryxspioenkop
Thanks for everyone who'd done the geolocation!
Well, if we take this radome and chip it further away, we might eventually get to the one in the new clip. Same goes for the rotor shaft. So it might be one of the documented Ka-52 after all.
So, it's a confirmed Su-34. Now the question remains - which "22" red it was and when exactly has it been shot down?
The first video from the crash site was published on 16-Nov.
It may be one of the 2 Su-34 hit on 24-Sep near Kup'yansk after all. If the identification is correct then the aircraft belonged to 47 BAP that was stationed since Dec-2021 in Baltimor AB.
If anyone wondered what #crashed today in #russian Stavropol' region injuring 6 firefighters, you'd be very much surprised to know that it wasn't a "Ukrainian UAV", but a russian #Kinzhal missile.
And yes, the "booster" or the nozzle's aerodynamic cover didn't separate from the missile upon its separation from the carrier(?), which would probably mean that the main engine didn't ignite.