Schoolchildren Set Fire to Mi-8 Helicopter at Russian Omsk Airbase

23 September, 2024 Burnt Mi-8 ATMSh helicopter in Omsk. Photo credits: Astra On the evening of Saturday, September 21, a Mi-8 military helicopter was set on fire at the Russian Omsk-Severny airport.

According to local reports from Om1 and the Baza Telegram channel, the arson was carried out by two sixteen-year-old schoolchildren. The teenagers entered the airbase and threw a prepared incendiary bottle into the aircraft before fleeing on bicycles. They were later detained.

The schoolchildren were allegedly promised nearly two million rubles (£20,000) for their actions. The helicopter targeted was likely a Mi-8 AMTSh, equipped with a B-8V20A launcher for 70 mm S-8 unguided missiles.

Arson attacks on Russian equipment at air bases

This is not the first such case of arson of military equipment at an air base in Russia. On September 11, 2024, teenagers at the airport of Noyabrsk in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug burned an Mi-8 helicopter by order.

The incident occurred on the night of September 11 at the Noyabrsk air base when two minors entered the territory through a hole in the fence. The two boys, aged 13 and 14, were promised 5 million rubles for setting fire to the helicopter.

An Mi-8 helicopter destroyed by fire. Photo credits: BAZA

Militarnyi previously reported that the Freedom of Russia Legion committed sabotage by setting fire to equipment at a military airport with MiG-31 fighter jets.

The Russian resistance movement announced the destruction of several units of military equipment at the Bolshoye Savino airport, which belongs to the Russian Ministry of Defense. The video shows the process of setting two KAMAZ trucks on fire.

On the night of January 4, at the Shagol airfield in Chelyabinsk, saboteurs set on fire the Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber.

According to the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, the aircraft belonged to the aviation regiment of the 21st Mixed Aviation Division of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Armed Forces.