Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Moscow has not acknowledged any losses, and no footage has verified the friendly-fire claims.
On the night of November 10 into November 11, dozens of Ukrainian long-range drones headed for the Ust-Luga oil and gas terminal on the Baltic coast, roughly 100 km west of St. Petersburg.
By morning, three Russian military aircraft and their crews were gone, according to pro-war Russian Telegram channels cited by Militarnyi.
Russia’s defense ministry has not confirmed any losses. Militarnyi, drawing on Russian channels, assessed that the downed aircraft most likely consisted of two Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopters and one Mi-8 transport helicopter, which together would account for the seven airmen killed.
Other Russian accounts describe a different combination: a Ka-52, an Mi-8, and a MiG-31 interceptor. The Ukrainian outlet UNITED24 Media reported that neither Russian channel explicitly confirmed air defenses were responsible for the Ka-52 loss.
A “very, very, very high cost”
Russian aviation blogger Ilya Tumanov, who runs the widely followed Fighterbomber Telegram channel, wrote, as quoted in Kyiv Post: “Defending the skies over St. Petersburg from a drone attack today came at a very high cost to us. A very, very, very high cost. May you fly forever, brothers.”
Other pro-war channels mourned the fallen airmen without specifying what kind of aircraft they had flown, Kyiv Post noted.
Friendly fire suspected
Russian military commentators have pointed to friendly fire as the leading explanation, Aerospace Global News reported.
As reported by Aerospace Global News, the Institute for the Study of War said it had not yet observed footage verifying the incidents, and Ukraine’s security service was still working to verify the reports.
Ukrainian drone warfare adviser Serhii Sternenko flagged the possibility on Telegram on November 11, suggesting Russian air defenses may have mistakenly destroyed one of their own aircraft during the response, UNITED24 Media reported.
Russia’s defense ministry claimed its air defenses downed 627 drones overnight across several regions, according to Kyiv Post.
Russian aviation has been losing hardware at a sharp clip this autumn. In October alone, Ukrainian specialist outlets logged at least 11 fixed-wing aircraft and two Mi-8 helicopters written off, among them Su-34 bombers, Su-30SMs, a Su-35 and a Su-57.
