Eight Russian Aircraft Are Shot Down In One Day

Putin gets a bloody nose... again: As eight Russian aircraft are shot down in one day, captured troops condemn invasion to TV cameras 

 A Russian attack helicopter makes a menacing low pass over a rural village in Ukraine, its gunship fully equipped with missiles and machine guns. But, unknown to the crew of the state-of-the-art Mi-24 Hind aircraft, Ukrainian soldiers are waiting unseen in the line of trees below. Dramatic footage emerged yesterday of the final moments of the helicopter, christened the 'flying tank' by Russian air crews.As it makes its approach, the defending troops fire a rocket skywards from a frost-covered field about 25 miles outside the capital Kyiv. The warhead fizzes, leaving a trail of white smoke in its wake. It locks on to its target before the crew can engage their infrared jammers and flare dispensers.The invaders receive a brutal and direct hit; the helicopter explodes instantly, sending brilliant orange flames bursting from the engine. The stricken Mi-24 plummets to the earth, hitting the ground nose-first, with all her pilots and navigators feared killed. Their deaths came on a day when Russian aerial forces lost as many as eight aircraft, as well as multi-role, strike and close air support aircraft and a drone. Their losses, claimed by Ukrainian military sources, provide further evidence of Russia's failure to gain air superiority – a tactical advantage that Vladimir Putin thought would be achieved on the first day of the war. Source