Russia has denied a report in daily newspaper Kommersant that seven Russian planes were destroyed by rebel shelling at Syria’s Hmeymim air base on December 31 as baseless, the TASS news agency today quoted the defense ministry as saying.
“The Kommersant report on alleged “actual destruction” of seven Russian war planes at Hmeymim air base is fake.” TASS said, citing the ministry. It said the Russian air group in Syria was “combat-ready”.
The ministry said two Russian service personnel were killed in a mortar attack on the base by rebels, according to TASS.
Earlier, the ministry said a Mi-24 helicopter had crash-landed in Syria on December 31 due to a technical fault and two pilots died.
Recall, Russian daily Kommersant, citing unnamed “military-diplomatic sources,” reported on January 3 that seven Russian planes were destroyed by rebel shelling at the Hmeymim air base in Syria on December 31.
At least four Su-24 bombers, two Su-35S fighters and an An-72 transport plane, as well as an ammunition depot, were destroyed by the shelling and more than 10 servicemen were wounded in the attack by “radical Islamists,” Kommersant said on its website.
