Russia's armed forces suffered a new blow today when its air defences shot down one of its own military helicopters near the war zone. The latest friendly fire nightmare resulted in the death of all four crew members, it was reported. The £19 million Ka-29 assault helicopter was on duty hunting for Ukrainian kamikaze sea drones near Black Sea resort Anapa this morning when it was hit by a Russian Pantsir medium-range surface-to-air missile in an incident of mistaken targeting. The Russians blamed the blunder on a malfunction of the 'friend or foe' identification system.
