A $12.5 million helicopter crashed: What’s known about the crash of the Russian Mi-24?

Where exactly did it crash?

At around 13:30, a Mi-24 helicopter of the Russian Aerospace Forces crashed near the M1 highway between Ivatsevichy and Baranavichy. The official report of the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Defense said that the crew of the helicopter “received injuries,” but the Defense Ministry doesn’t name the model of the helicopter or which troops it belonged to.

What's known about the crash of the Russian Mi-24 at the moment?

First, today at 11:30, the monitoring group Belarusian Hajun began to record aviation activity, including helicopters and fighters, at the nearest airfield to the crash site — Baranavichy airfield.

According to our information, the helicopter crashed near Liasnaya village (Baranavichy district, Brest region).

It’s known that the helicopter is lying right next to the M1 highway on the side in the direction of Brest. The analysis of reports shows that the Ministry of Emergency, the Russian Military Vehicle Inspectorate, and an Ural vehicle with the letters NPSK (a mobile complex of means of ground search and rescue teams) are present at the crash site.

By analyzing photos from chats, we can clearly understand that it was a Russian Mi-24 helicopter that crashed. First, the occupation symbol “Z” is clearly visible on it, and second, there is an inscription on the tail of the helicopter — Russian Air Force or Russian Aerospace Forces, and the registration number of the helicopter.

We note that helicopters of the Belarusian Air Force, unlike those of the Russian Aerospace Forces, have large digits of the aircraft number on the spot where the “Z” is located. In addition, all Mi-24 of the Belarusian Air Force have the state flag on the intakes.

We should also mention that the cost of such a helicopter is about $12,500,000. We continue to monitor the situation.