A Russian pilot landed a Mi-8 helicopter on a Ukrainian airbase in a daring defection, Ukrainian official says

A Russian Mi-8 military helicopter in Russia on January 19, 2022. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov

• A Russian pilot has defected to Ukraine with a Mi-8 helicopter, Ukraine's intelligence service said.
• The military-intelligence agency said it was part of a six-month-long secret plot.
• The helicopter's other crew members, who were unaware of the plan, were "eliminated," the agency said.

A Russian helicopter pilot landed on a Ukrainian air base in what Ukrainian officials claimed was a planned defection.

The pilot landed a Russian Mi-8 AMTSh at the Poltava military air base in Kharkiv on Wednesday, taking the staff by surprise, the Kyiv Post reported.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukraine's directorate of military intelligence, told local media that the incident was the culmination of a six-month-long secret plot.

He said the pilot's family had been brought from Russia to Ukraine before his defection.

Two other crew members on the helicopter were not aware of the pilot's plan, the Kyiv Post reported.

Ukraine's military-intelligence agency said they were unwilling to surrender and "eliminated," the paper reported.

Photos published by the Ukrainian outlet Pravda appear to show the helicopter and paperwork flecked with blood.

Pro-Russian social-media channels reported that the helicopter landed at the airfield by accident after the crew became "disoriented," according to the paper.

But the Poltava air base is about 300 km, or about 186 miles, away from the front line, which makes an accidental landing unlikely, the Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov said in a Facebook post.

Butusov added that this appeared to be the first known intentional surrender of this type of Russian equipment.

Ukraine offers a cash bounty to Russian soldiers defecting with weapons

A Russian Mil Mi-8 and a Kamov Ka-52 "alligator" attack helicopter Leonid Faerberg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Along with the helicopter, the pilot brought the parts of Su-27 and Su-30SM multirole fighter jets, supposedly being transported between two Russian air bases, the Kyiv Post reported. 

The Mi-8 is commonly used as a transport helicopter, but it can also be reconfigured as an airborne command post, an armed gunship, or a reconnaissance platform.

Last year, Ukraine began offering large sums of money to defecting Russian soldiers who handed over military equipment. A helicopter is worth $500,000.

It's unclear whether this Russian pilot, who has not been named, will be compensated.