Official Kremlin footage of what is said to be a helicopter attack on Ukrainian armour has been released by Russian defence chiefs.

The footage shows Russian attack helicopters on a landing pad with missiles being loaded into the weapon systems on the side of the aircraft.

A pilot – whose face was deliberately blurred in the official clip obtained by Newsflash from the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) this morning (Thursday, 31st March) – can then be seen climbing into the cockpit.

The footage then shows an area near the combat helicopter’s rotors with the letter ‘V’ painted onto it.

The helicopter’s dual rotors can then be seen spinning before the aircraft takes off into the sky.

The large attack helicopter is seen flying away before a second helicopter takes off and joins it in the sky.

The footage goes on to show one of the attack helicopters flying low, close to the ground, before opening fire and unleashing its ordnance on unidentified targets.

The footage then shows what appears to be the helicopter’s targeting system with what appears to be black smoke rising into the air in the background.

Two helicopters are then seen landing back at their base before one of the pilots, sporting a Kalashnikov assault rifle, gets out of the cockpit as the footage ends.

The Russian MoD claimed that the footage showed “Ka-52 attack helicopters of the Russian Aerospace Forces” destroying “fortified strongholds and the firing positions of armoured vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”.

The MoD also said that the footage shows how “Army aviation crews launched guided and unguided missiles in pairs from low altitudes, destroying a disguised command post and stronghold of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“Armoured vehicles and enemy manpower were destroyed by a missile strike by army aviation helicopters.”

The Russian MoD did not reveal where the attack took place.

Russia’s Ka-52 attack helicopters are the Kremlin’s answer to American gunships such as the Apache. They are versatile combat vehicles designed to destroy ground targets such as buildings, vehicles and people, and they can even hold their own against slower-moving aerial targets.

The Ka-52 is a newer version of the Ka-50 attack helicopter, which was widely used in previous Russian military campaigns, such as the invasion of Georgia in August 2008, which lasted 12 days and resulted in a Russian, South Ossetian and Abkhaz victory.