The Mi-8 downing near Pokrovsk on 29 September 2025
A look back at a reported FPV drone strike on a Russian helicopter in Donetsk Oblast, and a diplomatic step announced days earlier.
What was reported from Donetsk Oblast on 29 September 2025? Ukraine allegedly shot down a Russian Air Force Mil Mi-8 helicopter with an FPV drone in Nadaeyvka, in Pokrovsk Raion. The aircraft was said to be on combat search and rescue duty.
According to the report, several people were killed and several others injured. The incident was part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian war, and the account was framed as an allegation rather than a confirmed outcome.
A diplomatic step days earlier
Five days before, on 24 September 2025, Ukraine and Syria officially restored diplomatic relations. The ties had been severed after the government of President Bashar al-Assad recognised the independence of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics in June 2022.
The two developments, one on the front line in the Donetsk region and one in diplomacy, marked the final week of September 2025.
