Russian Military Contractors Killed in US-Led Attack in Syria

Both took place near the Omar oil field, the Hashim gas field and the former Conoco gas refinery.

In footage released by the Department of Defense on Tuesday, the T-72 can be seen sitting stationary and appears to fire a round from its 125mm main gun just before being hit by the US air strike that destroyed the vehicle.

The Russians never expected that the USA forces would call in air strikes and wipe out the 300 odd attackers trying to smoke the SDF/Special Operations base.

The US military claims these air strikes were inflicted within self-defense.

It marks the first time Russian and US combatants have become directly engaged in combat in Syria, according to the outlet.

Harrigian would not speculate on who was operating the tank – Russian forces or those belonging to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Ukraine believes the Wagner company was formed, equipped, and financed by Russian intelligence services for military, terrorist, and other criminal activities in support of Russian geopolitical interests.

Most, if not all of the soldiers were affiliated to the pseudo-mercenary Wagner military group.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov refrained from commenting on the reports about the deaths last week, saying Tuesday they need to be verified.

Widespread reports suggest Russian military contractors drove the tank and had been behind multiple attacks on the U.S. and its allies in Syria.

Grigory Yavlinsky, a liberal Russian politician who is running in next month’s presidential election, also suggested there were Russian deaths in Syria. “Disseminated reports about hundreds, dozens of dead Russians is classic disinformation”, the Russian Interfax quoted an anonymous Russian Foreign Ministry source.

But he admitted “Russian contractors” were possibly casualties of the bombing.

The Russian defence ministry, which did not mention the presence of Russian mercenaries, said the incident had been provoked by a “lack of co-ordination” on the part of the pro-Assad group with Russian command.

Bloomberg News report more than 200 contract soldiers, mostly Russians fighting for al-Assad, died in a failed attack on a base held by United States and mainly Kurdish forces in the Deir Ezzor region on Wednesday (February 7).

Harrigian said the USA -backed coalition contacted the Russians through the “deconfliction” telephone line to make them aware of the unprovoked attack.

While Putin announced during a visit to Syria last December that Russian armed forces had achieved victory over ISIS and were being withdrawn from the country, the fighting continues, and Russian military contractors are apparently heavily involved.

The Syrian government on Tuesday undermined the main outcome of last month’s peace talks in Sochi by rejecting United Nations -led efforts to form a committee to oversee the drafting of a new Syrian constitution, Reuters reported.

“I can confirm that Kirill died on February 7 in Syria, near the Euphrates River, as a result of a strike by the American coalition”, Averin said in an interview, adding that he was aware of “substantial losses” suffered by “paramilitary structures with ties to Russian Federation”.

Grigory Yavlinsky, a longtime Russian opposition politician who helped steer democratic reforms after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, called on the authorities to come clean about what happened.