Russian military aviation channels have reported the loss of aircraft following a large-scale drone attack on the St. Petersburg and Leningrad regions on November 11.
While official Russian government sources have not confirmed specific equipment or personnel losses, various military-linked sources indicate that the incident resulted in casualties among flight crews.
Ilya Tumanov, a blogger behind the “Fighterbomber” Telegram channel, characterized the night’s events as a major blow to Russian air defense operations.
“Today’s St. Petersburg sky defense against the drone attack cost us very dearly. Very, very, very dearly. Eternal flight, brothers,” he wrote, as reported by The Moscow Times.
The exact scale of the hardware loss remains a subject of debate across various Russian military-oriented Telegram channels. The channel “Na predele” published a black-and-white image of a Ka-52 “Alligator” attack helicopter alongside memorial tributes to the fallen crews, according to [nra.lv].
Other sources have provided higher estimates.
The channel “Voevoda veščajet” claimed seven people died in the incident, while “Voennij osvedomiteļ” reported the loss of a Ka-52 and potentially a Mi-8 helicopter, as noted by [TVNET]. Another channel, “Osvedomiteļ,” suggested the total loss could reach three helicopters, including two Ka-52s and one Mi-8.
The Ukrainian monitoring channel “Supernova+” also claimed a Ka-52 was destroyed along with its crew, [nra.lv] reported.
Multiple Russian military bloggers have suggested that the aircraft were downed by Russia’s own air defense systems while attempting to intercept the incoming swarm of Ukrainian drones, according to [TVNET]. This theory of “friendly fire” remains unverified by independent investigators.
The drone activity also caused physical damage at the Ustjluga port, a critical hub for the export of Russian oil and petroleum products.
Leningrad Region Alexander Drozdenko reported an outbreak of fire at the facility and said that three port workers were injured during the attack. He claimed that 150 drones were intercepted over the region, a figure that cannot be independently verified, [nra.lv] reported.
According to data from “The Insider,” cited by [TVNET], the Russian military has lost at least six Ka-52 helicopters to friendly fire since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Previous incidents include a loss in October 2025 where a Ka-52 was reportedly mistaken for a drone, and an incident in July 2026 in the Voronezh region.
* Have Russian authorities confirmed the loss of the helicopters? No. The Russian Ministry of Defense has not issued a statement regarding aircraft losses or pilot fatalities, only acknowledging that three workers were injured at the Ustjluga port, as reported by The Moscow Times and [TVNET].
* Is it known how many aircraft were destroyed? Reports vary significantly, with claims ranging from one Ka-52 to a total of three helicopters, including Mi-8 transports, according to [TVNET].
* What caused the destruction of the aircraft? While military bloggers speculate that friendly fire occurred during the engagement with drones, there is currently no independent confirmation or official investigation result to verify the cause of the crashes.
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