Officially Reported: AFU Liquidate Top Russian Helicopter Pilot

The occupiers have not collected his body for two months.

The Ukrainian military has liquidated Colonel Vasily Kleshchenko of the Russian Air Force.

This is stated in the official message of the StratCom of the AFU.

"The body of the best helicopter pilot of the Russian Air Force Colonel Kleshchenko is in the wreckage of the Ka-52," the message reads.

Kleshchenko was deputy head of the 344th centre for combat use and retraining of Russian army aviation flight personnel, the Russian Defence Ministry's website says.

The liquidated Russian colonel was also in charge of a helicopter parade over Red Square on May 9 last year, as evidenced by relevant publications in the Russian propaganda media.

As Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov earlier reported, Ukraine's defenders shot down the helicopter carrying Kleshchenko over the positions of the invaders. The destroyed Ka-52 and the pilot's body were handed over to the Russians.

Kleshchenko's strikes from the Ka-52 at night tried to stop the offensive of Ukrainian troops near the village of Husarivka, Kharkiv Region. The aircraft was shot down from a portable anti-aircraft missile system at ultra-low altitude during an attack on April 15. The Russian pilot failed to eject and died right in his seat, his parachute strings were damaged.

For a long time, the helicopter and the pilot's body remained at the crash site; the Russians did not collect the remains of their colleague. The Ukrainian military was able to approach the site of the Ka-52 crash in June - after liberating Husarivka.

Under enemy fire, they collected fragments of the burnt-out helicopter and the occupier's body and handed them over to Russia.