Four Russian soldiers were killed in Syria’s Deir Ezzor governorate when a group of militants attacked a Syrian military position, the Russian Ministry of Defence said.
“Two Russian military advisers, who controlled fire of the Syrian battery, died at the scene. Five other Russian military were wounded and immediately taken to a Russian military hospital,” the ministry said in a statement on Sunday, May 27. “The military doctors had been fighting for the life of two wounded servicemen, but they did not manage to save them.”
Several “mobile terrorist groups” attacked a Syrian government forces artillery battery, and Russian military advisors responded along with Syrian troops, Tass reported the ministry as saying.
It was not immediately clear to which group the militants belonged or when the attack occurred.
“During the fighting, which lasted for nearly an hour, the military destroyed 43 terrorists and six all-terrain vehicles with large-caliber armaments installed on them.”
Russia’s use of private military contractors in the Syria war came into the spotlight in February after more than 200 Russians were killed by Coalition airstrikes in Deir Ezzor, but Russian armed forces casualties in the Syrian conflict have remained relatively low, with fewer than 100 deaths officially recorded as of May 7.
Most recently, the two pilots of an Russian Su-30SM were killed when the fighter jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Syria’s Hmeimim air base on May 3.