Russian Mi-24 helicopter shot down in Armenian airspace outside combat zone

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov has informed that a Russian helicopter Mi-24 was shot down in the Armenian airspace outside the combat zone on Monday, November 9. However, earlier, the ministry had called it a crash near the Yeraskh village.

As per reports, the helicopter was shot from the ground using a man-portable air defense system. Due to the crash, two crew members were killed and one is reported to have been evacuated with few injuries. 

Read: Azerbaijan Claims To Have 'liberated' Shusha, Armenia Says 'fight Continues'

Russia assists Armenia

According to reports, Konashenkov said, "Russian helicopter Mi-24 was shot down in the airspace over the territory of the Republic of Armenia outside the combat zone." 

On October 31, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had officially sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin urging him to begin "urgent" consultations on the "type and scale" of assistance Moscow can provide to the Armenian Republic. As per the statement published by the Foreign Ministry of Armenia, Pashinyan in his letter not only detailed the situation in the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region but also listed the challenges caused by the Azerbaijani-Turkish military alliance. His desperate attempt at getting Russian support comes after the failure of a third, US-brokered, treaty with Azerbaijan.

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Meanwhile, as the Armenian- Azerbaijani conflict continued for the sixth week, Baku claimed that it has seized the second-largest city in the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh. In a televised speech on November 8, Azeri president Ilham Aliyev claimed to have taken down the city of Shusha. However, his claims have been denied by the Armenian forces who said that "heavy fighting" for the city continued. Shortly after the announcement, hundreds of Azeris gathered in Baku to celebrate, waving flags and chanting slogans while drivers sounded their car horns, Al Jazeera reported.

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(Image Credits: AP)