Outnumbered with outdated kit: a day with Ukraine’s helicopter pilots
The air force rely on nerves of steel as they wait for western reinforcements. They say taking on powerful Russian choppers is like a Lada going up against a Mercedes
Sitting in his clunky, Soviet-designed helicopter, Major Maksym of the Ukrainian air force could offer only one explanation for why he and his colleagues keep flying despite being outgunned and outnumbered by their Russian adversaries: “We have iron arses.”
A field of sunflowers swayed in the breeze outside the cabin door as he elaborated: “We have only courage, morale and experience to help us, but that’s it.”
In 16 months of full-scale war, Maksym, 29, and his comrades have ducked and dived their way through hellish engagements from Mariupol to Snake Island. Now they are in action around the smoking ruins of Bakhmut, where their helicopter recently survived being peppered by machinegun fire.
Half of their unit has been killed. “The Russians are hunting us,”
