MI-8, Suicide Mission: Inside Azovstal’s First Helicopter Evacuation

Name: Azovstal Helicopter Evacuation: The MI-8 'One-Way Ticket' Mission
Uploaded: 2026-02-06
Description: Ukrainian pilot Mykola Lyubarets flew his MI-8 through Russian fire to evacuate wounded soldiers from besieged Azovstal. Watch the full story.

Feb 09, 2026 17:41 Updated May 25, 2026 15:26

Meet Mykola Lyubarets, a fearless Ukrainian helicopter pilot who risked everything to fly under Russian enemy fire, evacuating wounded soldiers from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. Lyubarets defied the odds, navigating through Russian encirclement to complete one of the war’s first evacuations that could have been a ‘one-way ticket’ suicide mission.