Russia stated on Friday that its state-of-the-art S-400 anti-aircraft missile system had shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter.  The utility transport helicopter, built in the Soviet period, was shot down in northeastern Ukraine, not far from the Russian and Belarusian borders.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the same Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter was employed by Kyiv in a cross-border attack on Russian residents on Thursday.  "A Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter was shot down by Russian air defence systems in the area of Gorodnya, Chernihiv region, while returning to the airbase," said Major General Igor Konashenkov, a representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, during his daily briefing today.

Konashenkov said, in addition to a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 fighter plane shot down in the Kharkiv region, Russian forces have shot down eight Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Russia said the frequency and scale of missile strikes against targets in Kyiv will only rise in the coming days after Kalibr sea-based high-precision long-range missiles targeted a military facility on the outskirts of Kyiv on Thursday night.

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