VLADIMIR Putin suffered a new blow yesterday as his air defence forces shot down one of their own military helicopters.
The Russian Ka-29 was mistakenly targeted and downed by a missile, according to pro-war channels.
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All four crew members were killed, reports claim.
The £19million helicopter was hunting for Ukrainian sea drones near Black Sea resort Anapa when it was hit by a Russian Pantsir medium-range missile.
Their defence ministry blamed the blast on an error with the “friend or foe” identification system.
Helicopters are seen as the most effective way to attack Ukraine’s sea drones — which have devastated Putin’s naval assets during the war.
A total of 113 were unleashed at Russia on Thursday night.
Ukraine said their drones had struck four oil refineries — three in the Krasnodar region and one in Astrakhan — with explosions reported at two other Russian oil depots.
Radar centres were also hit, along with a storage site for Iranian-supplied drones.