a hard bank left and a dive. and layers to did distract heat seeker missiles. a pair of ukrainian helicopters on an assault against russian forces close to bakmut. around the border, we should be careful. we should fly very low altitude to prevent our recognition. below trenches, and east ukrainian villages smashed by war. back from this sorti, this forward base is secret, as low profile as possible. the mi8 helicopters are refueled and rearmed. they expect to fly at least 3sortis a day. when you took off this morning, were you frightened? why ? well, because the russians want to kill you. we don t have any other choice than to fight the russians. if you re frightened, you should stay at home. that s not an option here. this soviet era helicopter is about 30-years-old. the threat against it is extreme and as a result of that, we re are gone to fly quite literally below the night of trees, climbing and dipping with every piece of woodland that we pass. built as
blades. back at base, the blades are swapped quickly. ukraine doesn t have aircraft to spare. nor pilots. he skip powers chopper that hits the trees. he tells me, in december, a very close friend of mine died. a lot of people i knew, friends, have already died, unfortunately. it s very painful and i m very upset and i cannot move on. he went on, we need new attack helicopters, new jets. unfortunately, our equipment is old and its range is very small and it s inaccurate. a year into fighting russia s invasion, ukraine is still asking for more advanced helicopters and jets. so far, the response from her allies has been, sorry, but no. and so they fight on here with what they ve got.