Two more Russian military casualties in Syria

An Mi-24 Russian helicopter gunship has crashed in Syria, killing both pilots and injuring a third person on board. Defense Ministry officials have attributed the incident to a technical malfunction.

The crash occurred on December 31, but Moscow only acknowledged it on January 3. According to open-source researchers at the Conflict Intelligence Team, which tracks Russian casualties in Syria, one of the pilots was Major Artem Kulish and the passenger’s surname is Matveyev.

Russia’s military intervention in Syria began in 2015. Since then, at least 45 Russian soldiers have died in combat and Moscow has lost six helicopters and three aircraft. An unknown number of Russian mercenaries have also died fighting for private military companies.