Ukrainian helicopter pilots fly low, run risks

Ukrainian military helicopter pilot Oleh, 22, has become used to flying low over fields and woods to track targets in the war to destroy and evict Russian invaders.

All too aware of the risks of low altitudes, he nonetheless presses on, establishing and hunting down enemy positions.

"Yesterday was a very difficult flight. We were forced to land in a field four times. Missiles and guided bombs were launched at our helicopters," Oleh acknowledges, seated at the controls of his Soviet-designed Mi-8 aircraft.

"That flight was the one that has scared me the most. And I had the most adrenaline. But, in the end, I had great satisfaction that the target was destroyed."

Oleh guides his aircraft cautiously through wooded areas, barely clearing trees before opening fire.

His helicopter missions, he said, target mostly infantry, but also reinforced enemy positions "and sometimes vehicles. But mostly infantry".

Singling out a target, he says, involves adjusting to the right or left and engaging in a "hill" manoeuvre. That means staying low, gradually gaining altitude, launching missiles and then turning away to either side and descending once again.

Ukraine has benefited from weapons deliveries from the US and its allies as it presses on with its three-month counteroffensive in the east and south of the country.

Most of the helicopters it deploys are Soviet models. Some were provided by the US, which used Mi helicopters during the campaign in Afghanistan, others from countries such as the Czech Republic, which used to be in Moscow's orbit.

Helicopter pilots must fly at low altitudes to avoid becoming targets for enemy anti-aircraft defences. Oleh said they try to approach their targets from a low vantage point. But it does not always go to plan.

"Sometimes it happens that the enemy air defence sees us," he said. "And there were cases when they almost locked on us."

And that's not all a low-flying helicopter has to avoid.

"There is danger flying at a low altitude because there are poles, power lines which we can hit," he said. "One has to be very cautious to evade them."

Oleh dreams of the day when he will get the opportunity to fly a US aircraft.

"Of course, we would like to get American equipment – a Black Hawk, for example," he said. "It is newer, more powerful and can carry much better weapons to inflict maximum losses on the enemy."