Video shows Ukrainian army shooting down Russian helicopter

The video shows a Russian Mi-28 helicopter being shot down in Ukraine on April 1st, 2022.

The video appears to show the use of the Starstreak high-velocity missile system, which was confirmed by the U.K. Ministry of Defence to The London Times. The helicopter is struck by three projectiles, characteristic of the payload fired by the Starstreak missile system. Starstreak is a man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) developed by Thales Air Defense and has been in use since 1997.

Starstreak has a range of four miles (6.4 kilometers) and can fire missiles that reach velocities exceeding Mach 4, making it the fastest short-distance missile on Earth. The missile carries two motors, the first of which burns out before exiting the tube it is fired from to protect the operator, while the second ignites once the missile travels approximately 13 feet (4 meters).

Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many countries have come to Ukraine's aid by supplying weapons, logistics, and more. The U.K. Ministry of Defence sent a team of Starstreak operators and a training simulator to one of Ukraine's neighboring countries, where they trained some Ukrainian troops to use the equipment before returning to the front lines.