Ukrainian military intelligence has released video footage confirming the destruction of a Russian Mi-8 helicopter during a drone operation in occupied Crimea. The attack also targeted two other helicopters and a Nebo-U air defense radar system, according to a 21 September report.

Ukrainian drones strike helicopters and radar in occupied Crimea

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) stated that its special unit Prymary targeted three Russian Mi-8 helicopters and a Nebo-U radar in an undated drone attack on the occupied peninsula. The agency published a video showing the strikes, and the wreckage of “one of the destroyed” Mi-8 helicopters.

“The Mi-8 helicopters and the Nebo-U radar in Crimea are the latest results of the Prymary unit’s raid,” the HUR noted.

It added that the air fleet of Russian occupiers in occupied Crimea “once again shrank” following the “successful combat work” of the unit.

Radar with 400 km detection range

As noted by Militarnyi, the Nebo-U radar is capable of detecting fighter-type targets flying at altitudes up to 20 kilometers and at distances of up to 400 kilometers. Although it does not belong to individual missile systems, it plays a key role in Russia’s layered air defense network by transmitting target data to defense command posts.

Crimea airfields repeatedly hit in coordinated drone campaigns

Drone operators from both the HUR and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have successfully penetrated Russian air defenses multiple times. In July and early August, the agencies struck the Saky airfield twice, damaging up to six Russian fighter jets.

Additional attacks by the Prymary unit included strikes on Mi-8 helicopters at the Hvardiiske airbase. At Kirovske airfield, transport helicopters Mi-8 and Mi-26 as well as the Mi-28 attack helicopter were damaged, with satellite imagery later confirming these impacts.

Other recent targets included Russian command posts, barracks, depots, railway facilities, and satellite communication centers. At the end of August and early September, at least three missile strikes hit key Russian military and logistical nodes: a Black Sea Fleet communication hub, artillery warehouses of the Russian Dnipro grouping, and FSB hovercraft and barracks.

At the beginning of September, jet-powered drones struck a space communication center. Separately, loitering drones repeatedly targeted electric substations that power Russian rail logistics in Crimea.