Russian chopper pilot defects to Ukraine with aircraft

 Daily Beast:

A Russian pilot who recently vanished along with his Mi-8 chopper and entire crew is actually in Ukraine after defecting as part of a six-month special operation, Ukrainian intelligence officials said Wednesday.

Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, confirmed in televised comments that the Russian military helicopter had landed at a Ukrainian air base. Sources in Ukrainian intelligence cited by Ukrainska Pravda said the pilot had been “lured” into Ukraine in the culmination of a months-long special operation.

His family had been evacuated to Ukraine ahead of time, according to the report, and along with the Russian chopper, Ukraine acquired the cargo that he had been transporting: spare parts for the Russian military’s fighter jets.

Two other crew members who were on board with the pilot reportedly had no idea the chopper was landing in Ukraine, and there are conflicting reports on their fate. Ukrainska Pravda reports that the two were “liquidated” during the special operation, while other reports suggested they had surrendered and Yusov cryptically said “work is underway with the crew.”

Moscow has yet to comment on the claims, but Kremlin-connected Telegram channels confirmed that a Russian chopper went missing recently. The Flightbomber Telegram channel on Wednesday said the Mi-8 vanished “a couple weeks ago” but insisted that the crew had simply “lost their bearings” and accidentally landed in Ukraine.
...

It is unlikely that the crew would be liquidated as long as they did not try to resist the landing.  However, they could have been killed if they fought with the Ukraine military. 

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