“It was like we are the kings of the world and have already won”: helicopter pilot on Azovstal mission

The pilot said this in an interview published by the press officer for Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Land Forces, Ilya Yevlash.

“The operation was planned by the Intelligence Chief Directorate of Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense, they gave a lot of information, intelligence, all the information needed by the crew, in a short period of time. Some had a day to prepare, some had a week, and some - just a few hours. The most difficult part was to deliver the cargo more than 100 km into the enemies’ frontlines, which was densely populated by their air defense. Just in the landing zone alone there were three different anti-aircraft missile systems that covered the landing zone and the destruction zone. We usually try to stay out of range of anti-aircraft systems, but there are some tasks in which it is simply impossible to do that, such as delivering cargo and evacuating the injured from Mariupol. It is crucial for us to know all the natural and artificial obstacles and use them to our advantage," said the pilot.

He also noted that everyone involved understood the complexity of the task and the risk they’re taking.

"I will tell you about this flight. When the mission was outlined, everyone understood the risk. But the commander only set this mission for the first time, when all the pilots understood that it is very difficult and nearly impossible to complete, as the commander said, 90% of the time. But the commander also added ‘How many civilian and other people's lives do you value for your own? How many people have to die for you to understand what your life is worth?’ And we all understood, we truly understood what was going on there, that people didn't even have basic medicine to provide any kind of basic help, that there was no ammunition and it was extremely necessary to complete this mission. That's why everyone took this risk, understanding why and for whom we are doing it," the pilot said.

He said that, after landing in Mariupol, the crew was filled with euphoria and confidence in their certain victory.

"When we were in Mariupol, while the cargo and people were unloading, we all had this feeling of euphoria. It seemed like, if we came here, in the effective area of three anti-aircraft missile systems, and we are standing here and unloading - we are the kings of the world, we have already won and everything will be fine," the pilot said.

However, on the way back, two Ukrainian helicopters were shot down by the occupants, but despite that, one of them still reached its planned landing site.

"On the way back, about 6 km or 3 minutes after takeoff, my helicopter was hit by a portable air-defense system missile and one engine failed. Unfortunately, another helicopter behind was less fortunate and the whole crew died. As the missile hit, then there was an adrenaline rush and we were just doing what we had to do. I knew that if we landed somewhere in the field on another landing site, there wouldn’t be any way to evacuate all the injured soldiers on board. Making an emergency landing meant that another helicopter would be needed, which would be an unplanned operation. So we did what we had to do and nothing else - get to the required landing site."

The pilot also noted that the weather was not favorable for the mission, but the Ukrainian forces carried it out, completing it successfully anyway.

"On the day we went out, the weather was not good and did not aid in completing the task. But we did it, despite there being 10 reasons why we could not do it," he concluded.