been shut down. thanks for joining us. ac 360 begins now. good evening. we begin tonight with a 360 exclusive, inside the fighting in ukraine from a perspective that s never been shown before. the view from inside a ukrainian combat helicopter flying at treetop level and sometimes below the tree line, under constant threat from ground fire and fighters above. flying these choppers is one of the most dangerous jobs in this war, and with russia beginning a new offensive, it could soon get even riskier. cnn s sam kiley has the story. reporter: the target is russian troops. a hard bank left and a dive, and flares to distract heat seeker missiles. a pair of ukrainian helicopters on an assault against russian forces close to backwards. there are russian aircraft waiting on the border. we should be careful when we go. we should fly very low. to prevent our recognition. reporter: below, trenches, and east ukrainian villages smashed by war. back from this sortie, this forward
if one needed one of those comparisons in ukraine, that would be it. these ancient helicopters are sort of soviet equivalent of a blackhawk, but a very old and ancient blackhawk transport helicopter fitted with these rocket pods and sent into battle, fearful of fighter jets, of surface to air missiles, of ground fire. when we were on that aircraft i could have almost leaned out the window and touched the stubble of the trees of the field passing below me. so it really is extremely high risk. they have taken pretty heavy casualties, particularly at the beginning of the war, before they could organize themselves. the other thing i think is important to note here, by fluke, entirely by fluke, a lot of these veteran pilots have been flying recently, in the last 15 to 20 years, on peacekeeping missions with the united nations in africa. so they got a lot of hours. they ve got a lot of hours in areas of conflict like the democratic republic of the