MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. A Mi-8 helicopter, 12 HIMARS rockets and 11 Ukrainian drones were downed by Russian air defenses in the past day, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported during a briefing on Saturday.

"A Mi-8 helicopter of Ukraine’s Air Force was shot down by Russian air defenses near the locality of Novosyolovka in the Zaporozhye Region," he said. Also in the past day, 12 HIMARS rockets and 11 Ukrainian drones were downed near Petrovka and Veliky Vyselok in the Kharkov Region, Stelmakhovka, Golikovo, Zhitlovka and Chervonaya Dibrova in the Lugansk People’s Republic and Malaya Kardashinka and Novaya Zburyevka in the Kherson Region, he added.

In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 394 Ukrainian combat aircraft, 215 helicopters, 3,324 unmanned aerial vehicles, 408 surface-to-air missile systems, 8,145 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,049 multiple rocket launchers, 4,273 field artillery guns and mortars and 8,722 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine.