# Ukraine’s FPV Drones Hit Russian Mi‑28 Again, Exposing Helicopter Vulnerability Near Belgorod

*Friday, October 16, 2026 at 10:06 PM UTC — Hamer Intelligence Services Desk*

**Published**: 2026-10-16T22:06:42.850Z (2h ago)
**Category**: conflict | **Region**: Eastern Europe
**Importance**: 8/10
**Sources**: OSINT
**Permalink**: https://hamerintel.com/data/articles/20734.md
**Source**: https://hamerintel.com/summaries

---

**Deck**: A Ukrainian air defense and anti‑drone unit says it has struck a second Russian Mi‑28 attack helicopter with a first‑person‑view drone in Russia’s Belgorod region within days. The hits show how cheap Ukrainian drones are forcing one of Moscow’s key battlefield aircraft to operate under growing risk even on its own side of the border.

Ukraine’s use of nimble first‑person‑view drones against Russia’s heavily armed attack helicopters is beginning to expose a costly vulnerability in Moscow’s air campaign along the northern front. A Ukrainian unit now says it has hit a second Mi‑28N helicopter with an FPV drone in Russia’s Belgorod region in a matter of days, including during a live missile launch.

Footage and statements attributed to the Prybultsi, or “Aliens,” air defense and anti‑drone unit of Ukraine’s 115th Mechanized Brigade show an FPV drone homing in on a Russian Aerospace Forces Mi‑28N as it fires a Kh‑39 light multipurpose guided missile, known by its Russian acronym LMUR. The incident reportedly took place in the Belgorod region, just across the border from Ukraine, and follows an earlier successful strike on another Mi‑28 in the same area around 14 October.

The claims, which have not been independently verified in full detail, suggest that Ukrainian operators are increasingly confident they can reach and damage high‑value rotary‑wing targets even as those helicopters operate from Russian territory. By timing the attack to coincide with a missile launch, the Ukrainian FPV team sought to hit the helicopter when it was slow, predictable, and focused on its own target rather than on defense.

For Russian pilots and ground crews, that means a mission profile that once felt relatively secure is now fraught. Mi‑28Ns have been central to Russia’s effort to blunt Ukrainian advances and support its own assaults, using stand‑off missiles like the LMUR to attack armor and fortified positions from beyond many front‑line air defense systems. The emergence of small, agile FPV drones capable of reaching them in transit challenges that concept of impunity.

On the Ukrainian side, the engagement showcases how units that began as ad hoc drone teams have matured into a specialized arm of the armed forces. The 115th Mechanized Brigade’s anti‑drone component is part of a broader Ukrainian push to integrate FPV operators into combined arms formations, giving commanders a tool to threaten assets that used to sit outside the reach of ground fire.

Strategically, each damaged or destroyed Mi‑28 forces Russia to reconsider how and where it uses its helicopter fleet. These aircraft are expensive to build and crew, and they play roles across several sectors of the front. If FPV threats restrict their freedom of movement near the border, Russia may be forced either to pull them back further from Ukrainian airspace, reducing their effectiveness, or to invest more in counter‑drone protection for flight paths and forward pads.

The Belgorod region, which hosts logistics hubs and firing positions used in attacks on Ukrainian territory, has thus become more than just a rear area. Ukrainian strikes there, whether with drones against fuel depots or now against combat helicopters, are part of a campaign to push the war’s cost deeper into Russian soil and stretch Moscow’s air defenses.

The broader pattern is that cheap, expendable drones are steadily eroding the value of complex, crewed platforms that once dominated the battlefield. When a few thousand dollars of electronics can threaten a sophisticated gunship during its firing run, the calculus of where to risk those aircraft changes.

Key signals to monitor now include Russian adjustments to helicopter tactics near the border, visible changes in their operating altitudes or routes, and whether Ukrainian units release more footage of successful engagements against high‑value aircraft. Any confirmed loss of additional Mi‑28s to FPV drones would underline how quickly the balance between manned aviation and unmanned systems is tilting on this front.