A Kamov Ka-52 Alligator military helicopter takes part in a military flight competition in … (+)
A video posted online this week shows a Russian Ka-52 “Alligator” attack helicopter (NATO reporting name Hokum B) firing on a column of military vehicles near the Kursk border town of Sudzha. It was just one of the many “war porn” videos that regularly make the rounds on social media – but what is most remarkable about this clip is that the Russian pilots in the helicopter did not realise they had been firing on friendly troops until after several vehicles had been destroyed.
The footage was first posted on the social messaging app Telegram on Wednesday afternoon.
“The Russians released a video yesterday showing a Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter destroying a military column in Russia’s Kursk region using guided missiles. Only later did they realize that they had attacked their own column,” said the Visegrád 24 news channel’s caption for the video, which was shared on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
The video has not been independently verified and the Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on the incident. It would not be the first case of friendly fire in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, however, it does show how quickly news from the front lines can be shared with the masses thanks to social networks.
“When it comes to events like this, I often point to two changes in recent years that have changed the context of reporting. Both have to do with the abolition of the previous role of the mass media. First, the channels provided by social media and the Internet more broadly make it very easy to share information. And because the servers used are often not located in just one country, they are harder for the state to control unless it resorts to more draconian measures,” said Dr. Cliff Lampe, professor of information science and associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Michigan’s School of Information.
“Secondly, the technology for capturing information – especially in audio and video formats – has become cheap and ubiquitous. Mobile phones now have remarkably good cameras and are always connected to the network,” Lampe added.
Another propaganda coup for Kyiv
Ukraine’s offensive in Russia’s Kursk Oblast has already been seen as a propaganda coup, but the fact that Russian forces are now targeting its troops could be another much-needed “victory” for Kyiv.
“With new information, it is always possible to manipulate the facts or, as we call it in research, ‘framing’,” Lampe continued. “Now that direct evidence from local sources is available, more aggressive strategies are needed to either discredit information, flood it with misinformation, or try to control the presentation of that information.”
Could Russia “twist” history?
While it may be impossible for the Kremlin to explain why its Ka-52 attack helicopter fired on its own convoy, Russia could use the “invasion” of the Kursk region to portray Ukraine as the aggressor. The fact that this is the same area where Nazi Germany launched its last large-scale offensive against Russia at Kursk in 1943 could also benefit Russia’s narrative of “de-Nazifying” Ukraine with the so-called “special military operation.”
“The Battle of Kursk marked a crucial turning point in the Soviet campaign to expel Hitler’s Wehrmacht from the USSR. Today, however, Putin is more like Hitler, so I don’t see any similarities. I don’t want to play into the hands of Russian propaganda, because it is clear that the ‘denazification’ of Ukraine is just a Russian myth and propaganda,” says Elina Beketova, a democracy expert at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).
“In today’s reality, the Kursk operation is an opportunity for Ukrainians to protect people in the border regions from Russian artillery attacks, thus reducing civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure,” Beketova added. “Ukrainians are also trying to reduce the pressure on their defense lines on the Donetsk and Kharkiv fronts. If the Russian Federation had not started this aggression, this operation might never have been necessary.”
In other words, it will be difficult for Moscow to create the impression that Ukraine is the aggressor.
“Russia started this war and can end it very quickly by withdrawing from all sovereign territories of Ukraine. As long as Russia continues its aggression, Ukrainians have no choice but to defend themselves,” Beketova continued.
A video that says more than a thousand words
While the clip of the Ka-52 attacking friendly forces is just video from Kursk, it speaks volumes about how unprepared Russia was in its defense and subsequent response. Even though the Kremlin promises to quickly expel the invader, scenes from the front tell a different story.
“This operation clearly shows that the Russian armed forces were not prepared, as they had to reinforce units in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,” Beketova said. “The ‘Kursk operation’ shows that Ukraine can win the war if it has enough resources at its disposal and if Russia fully feels the consequences of the war it started within its own borders. This episode is about Russia’s greed and the senselessness of waging war on foreign territory, on Ukrainian soil.”
