Five servicemen on board the Mi-8 died heroically

“On August 1, in the province of Idlib, as a result of ground fire, a Russian military transport helicopter Mi-8 was shot down as a result of shelling from the ground, returning to the Khmeimim airbase after delivering humanitarian aid in the city of Aleppo,” the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

There were five people on board: two of them were officers from the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties in the Syrian Arab Republic and three crew members. According to the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, all five people died: “Those who were in the helicopter, as far as we know from the information received from the Ministry of Defense, died. They died heroically because they tried to take the car away in order to minimize casualties on the ground. The Kremlin deeply sympathizes with all the loved ones of our fallen servicemen.”

Photos of personal belongings that allegedly belonged to the crew of the downed Mi-8 appeared online. They were published on August 1 on various Twitter accounts whose owners sympathize with Syrian militants.

The photo shows two Russian driver's licenses - one belonged to a man, the other to a woman. Among the personal belongings there was also an Orthodox icon.

The Syrian TV channel Al Masdar News reported that the helicopter flew over the positions of the Jaysh al-Fatah group, which is supported by Qatar and is considered part of the country's armed opposition.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held an operational meeting with permanent members of the Security Council last night in St. Petersburg. One of the main topics was the humanitarian operation in Syria.

At the end of July, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that Russia, together with the Syrian government, was launching a large-scale humanitarian operation in Aleppo. As part of the operation, four corridors have already been opened to exit the city; food, medicine, and basic necessities are being delivered to residents by air. “Since the beginning of the humanitarian operation, 169 civilians have left the areas controlled by illegal armed groups through checkpoints, 69 militants have laid down their arms, and qualified medical assistance has been provided to 59 people in need,” said Lieutenant General Sergei Chvarkov, head of the Russian center for reconciliation of warring parties in Syria.

As Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov noted, Moscow appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and relevant UN structures to assist in the delivery of humanitarian aid and the organization of corridors to Aleppo.

About a dozen militants of the IS terrorist organization banned in Russia were killed during a fierce firefight with the Syrian government army in Damascus. The SAA continues to boil representatives of radical groups in Aleppo. This was reported by a military source of the Federal News Agency, Akhmad Marzuk.

The armed conflict in Syria has been ongoing since 2011. Government troops are opposed by militants from various armed groups. The ceasefire in Syria came into force on February 27. The truce does not apply to the organizations banned in Russia and a number of other countries: the Islamic State (IS), Jabhat al-Nusra (which changed its name to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham) and other formations recognized as terrorist by the UN Security Council.

According to official data, until August 1, 14 Russian soldiers were killed in Syria. The Turkish military shot down a Su-24 bomber on the border with Syria. On the territory of the country itself, a Mi-8 helicopter was shot down, and another helicopter, a Mi-28, crashed due to difficult flight conditions.

Meanwhile, military clashes continue in all corners of Syria. About a dozen IS militants died during a brief clash with Syrian government forces in the southern part of the city of Daraya, on the outskirts of Damascus. After the skirmish, the SAR military gained access to a small arsenal of terrorists.

Units of the 105th brigade of the Republican Guard, with the active support of the militia, attacked the village of Khosh al-Nasri, in the area of ​​the eastern oasis, the first reports were received that most of the village had been captured.

IS militants have launched an attack on the city of Khanasser, thus they are trying to divert the attention of Bashar al-Assad’s army from the military operation to blockade Aleppo, where several thousand representatives of radical and opposition groups are trapped in the cauldron. At the same time, units of the paramilitary Lebanese Shiite organization Hezbollah, as well as the Iraqi army, stopped supporting the Syrian military in Aleppo. Thus, the Iraqi army showed that the United States is not interested in ending the fighting in Syria.

Currently, serious fighting continues in the Kinsabba area between opposition forces and the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). It is reported that the militants are trying to weaken the SAR soldiers with the help of suicide bombers who are secretly approaching the positions of government forces. The situation is complicated by the fact that the battles take place within the city limits, so B. Assad’s soldiers cannot always detect the terrorist in time. However, the SAA has tanks and heavy cannon artillery on its side.

The attack promised by the United States of America on the so-called capital of the Islamic State, the Syrian city of Raqqa, did not happen. The offensive was thwarted by the ongoing blockade of opposition forces in Aleppo. Currently, Islamists are concentrating forces in the area of ​​​​the specified settlement. They want to unblock their supporters.

The Syrian military also has losses. Militants from the coalition of Syrian Islamist rebels Jaysh al-Islam, using an American-made TOW anti-tank missile system, blew up a T-72 tank of the Syrian army and killed several soldiers in the Maydaa area, in the suburbs of Damascus.

A Russian helicopter was shot down in Syria. Creepy photographs appeared on the Internet, presumably from the scene of the incident and information about the pilots. The Kremlin confirmed that all passengers on the helicopter were killed.

On August 1, in the province of Idlib, a Russian military transport helicopter Mi-8 was shot down as a result of shelling from the ground, returning to the Khmeimim airbase after delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo, RIA Novosti quotes a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The agency reported that there were three crew members and two officers from the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria on board the helicopter.

A little later, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that everyone on board had died.

Those who were in the helicopter, as far as we know from the information received from the Ministry of Defense, died. They died heroically because they tried to drive away the car in order to minimize casualties on the ground, TASS quotes Peskov.

Photos allegedly from the scene of the incident appeared on the Internet. Some of them are published on Twitter by the journalist of the German newspaper Bild Bjorn Stritzel.

Reportedly a Russian chopper was downed in Saraqeb, pilots killed on the scene. pic.twitter.com/msSWKSjL3P

A Russian helicopter was reportedly shot down in Seraqab. The pilots were killed on the spot.

Reportedly one of the pilots of the downed Russian helicopter.

Another picture reportedly showing one of the killed Russian pilots. pic.twitter.com/FCBmnE7WxG

Another photo of a reportedly downed Russian helicopter.

There seems to be confirmation that it was indeed a Russian pilot.

Another document found with the Russian pilot whose chopper was downed near Saraqeb. pic.twitter.com/IO3KFgfQBv

Another document found on the Russian pilot whose helicopter was shot down in Seraqab.

One Twitter account, apparently belonging to a Syrian militia, posted a photo of a passport, presumably that of the pilot.

I think this is a pilot's passport.

The photo shows the passport of Oleg Shelamov, a native of the city of Torzhok, born on April 1. The year of birth is not visible in the photo. Considering that the passport was issued in 2007, it can be assumed that the pilot was 29 years old.

A video also appeared on the Internet showing several bodies lying on the ground next to a burning helicopter. People around take pictures of bloody bodies, someone stands on them and jumps. The photo was posted on Twitter Syria Today. The video is captioned as follows: “Jaish al-Fatah” (a coalition fighting against the Syrian government, operating in the area of ​​the city of Idlib, banned in Russia - note by Medialeaks) mocks the bodies of Russian pilots who crashed in Tell Sultan.”

A photograph has also been circulated online showing missiles next to a fallen helicopter. There is no confirmation that the photographs were taken specifically from the site of the Russian helicopter crash on Monday.

In Soviet Russia, 57mm rockets are considered humanitarian aid. pic.twitter.com/wAXQl8TtDR

Björn Stritzel (@bjoernstritzel)

“Either you return the bodies, or we launch large-scale airstrikes on the territory.”

On Monday, August 1, a Russian helicopter was shot down in Syria in the province of Idlib. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the Mi-8 came under fire while returning from a humanitarian mission. Five were killed - three crew members and two officers from the Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties. According to some reports, one of the dead is a girl. This is the largest loss of the Russian army since the beginning of the operation in Syria...

The military department officially reported that the helicopter was fired upon when, after delivering humanitarian cargo to Aleppo, it was returning to the Russian Khmeimim air base (80 km away). The incident occurred in the area of ​​Idlib province. The helicopter fell engulfed in flames.

According to foreign media reports, militants from the so-called “Free Syrian Army” took responsibility for the attack on the helicopter. This group controls part of the territory of Idlib province.

Photos of the downed helicopter and the bodies of the dead have already appeared online. To prove that they were Russians, the militants posted their documents - a burnt driver's license with a photo of a young girl, a driver's license and a passport of a young man.

There are, of course, a lot of questions. - says MK military expert Viktor Murakhovsky. - And the main thing is why the helicopter was flying over the territory that is occupied by gangs. It is also surprising why the Mi-8 flew without escort of cover helicopters, why was the flight altitude chosen, which is within the reach of the anti-aircraft guns available to the militants? After all, our military knows that such weapons have been supplied en masse to Syria in recent years.

According to the expert, almost the entire province of Idlib is occupied by militants from the Free Syrian Army and Jabhat al-Nusra (banned in Russia). The question is why the “pinwheel” flew near their positions, and not around the desert.

According to Murakhovsky, judging by the materials that the militants posted online, the helicopter was shot down from an anti-aircraft gun, most likely a ZU-23. A massive purchase of anti-aircraft guns from Eastern European countries was carried out by Saudi Arabia and Qatar for Syrian militants.

Obviously, great difficulties will arise when delivering the bodies of the victims to the Russian Khmeimim base. In order for Russian search and rescue services to land on the territory now occupied by militants, it is necessary to clear the area, suppress all pockets of air defense with attack aircraft, and drive militant detachments to a safe distance. Only after this will it be possible to land rescue forces.

Burning wreckage of a Russian helicopter. Photo: syria today twitter.

Judging by the footage, the bodies of Russian citizens are no longer at the site of the helicopter crash,” Murakhovsky noted. “We may have to issue an ultimatum: either you return the bodies, or we begin large-scale airstrikes on the territory.”

It so happens that the losses of Russian military personnel in Syria mainly occur just after the so-called humanitarian missions - the delivery of food to liberated areas, trips of Russian officers for negotiations on reconciliation of the warring parties.

The tail boom of the Mi-8, shot down by militants. Photo: syria today twitter.

Dropping food from airplanes and distributing it from the back of trucks, of course, has an effect both for the local population and for Western countries, but I think that this should be abandoned, says Murakhovsky. - The work of delivering humanitarian aid to combat areas can be entrusted to the Syrian government forces and their allies. It is enough for us to ensure logistics and delivery of goods to the bases of the Syrian army, from which food will be transferred to the required areas.

A Russian Mi-8 helicopter was shot down in Syria, returning from Aleppo to the Khmeimim airbase. A vehicle carrying five soldiers crashed in Idlib province. Since November 2015, the Russian Aerospace Forces, under various circumstances, have lost four helicopters and a Su-24 front-line bomber in Syria.

Turkish zugzwang

The first loss occurred on November 24, 2015. A pair of front-line Su-24M bombers carried out a combat mission in the province of Latakia (area of ​​the settlement of Kepir) - they bombed militant positions.

When re-approaching the target, the pair was attacked by Turkish F-16 fighters. According to Ankara, Russian planes violated Turkish airspace; according to Moscow, they were over Syrian territory all this time. One way or another, the plane RF-90932, tail number “83 white,” was shot down by an air-to-air missile.

The pilots ejected over an area controlled by militants opposed to Damascus. The crew commander, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov, was shot by them while still in the air, and navigator Konstantin Murakhtin managed to land and escape.

A search and rescue team was sent from the Khmeimim base. Her Mi-8AMTSh helicopter was damaged by fire from the ground and made an emergency landing. Marine Alexander Pozynich died on board. The car was subsequently destroyed by militants using an anti-tank missile.

Night fall

On the night of April 12, 2016, an Mi-28N attack helicopter returning from a combat mission crashed in Homs province. Crew members - Andrei Okladnikov and Viktor Pankov, who served at the air base in Budennovsk before being sent to Syria - died.

The helicopter was not fired upon from the ground, the Defense Ministry said. An industry source suggested that the car crashed due to a collision with the ground while being piloted in difficult conditions.

Subsequently, it was reported that the crew, flying with night vision goggles, could have lost control and the vehicle collided with some kind of obstacle. Sources in the investigation commission confirmed this conclusion at the end of April 2016, citing the human factor as the reason.

“The Mi-28N pilots, flying on a dark night over a directionless area with difficult terrain, lost their correct spatial position, which resulted in the helicopter colliding with the ground,” noted a source in the commission.

The helicopter that wasn't there?

On July 8, 2016, a helicopter was shot down near Palmyra. On board were the commander of the 55th separate army aviation regiment, Colonel Ryafagat Khabibullin, and pilot-operator Lieutenant Evgeny Dolgin, both of whom died.

The official position of the Russian Ministry of Defense today is still that a Syrian Mi-25 helicopter (the export version of the Mi-24D helicopter) with a Russian crew was shot down. According to Znamenka, this happened when the car was turning back after being hit. An anonymous source in the military department, also noting that the vehicle, having used up ammunition, went on a reverse course, linked the death of the helicopter to the use of the American TOW anti-tank system by militants.

However, the published video does not confirm this version. The footage clearly shows a pair of Mi-35M attack helicopters (such machines are used by the Russian air group in Syria). They were on a combat course, and the damaged vehicle launched unguided missiles immediately before the defeat.

The hit to the tail rotor, also recorded on video, does not correspond to the picture of the use of TOW missiles. In particular, this is evidenced by the absence of a trace of the approaching missile, the limited nature of the destruction, as well as the localization of the hit. One of the realistic versions is the use of anti-aircraft artillery by militants.

Returning from Aleppo

At the end of July, the Russian military announced a large-scale humanitarian operation in the Aleppo area. The successes of the Syrian army and allied forces (including Iranian and Hazara volunteers) led to the encirclement of a large militant group in the northeastern part of Aleppo. On July 28, it was reported that three corridors were being opened from the city for civilians to exit and a separate corridor for militants who decided to lay down their arms.

On August 1, 2016, in the Syrian province of Idlib, a Mi-8AMTSh helicopter was shot down, returning to the Khmeimim airbase after delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo. Judging by numerous photographs of the wreckage published online, we are talking about the RF-95585 vehicle (tail number “212 yellow”), photographed at the 562nd Army Aviation Base in Tolmachevo (near Novosibirsk) before the start of the Syrian campaign.

In Syria on the morning of August 1, a Russian Aerospace Forces helicopter was shot down. The Mi-8 was returning to Khmeimim airfield after successfully completing a humanitarian mission: it was for the civilians of Aleppo. In Idlib province, a car was hit by fire from the ground and fell in an area occupied by terrorists. The Russian Ministry of Defense has already confirmed that those who were on board.

Armed men quickly surround the burning wreckage in black clouds of smoke - this is a Russian Mi-8 helicopter. The frame was burned to the ground, and some parts were almost intact, such as the tail rotor blades. Shouts of "Allahu Akbar", Arabic speech and machine gun fire can be heard.

A Russian helicopter delivered humanitarian aid to Aleppo province. He was already returning back to the Khmeimim air base when, in the south of Idlib province, he was overtaken by a missile from a homemade anti-aircraft system, which has recently been quite often used in Syria by various terrorist groups.

“The helicopter was shot down from the ground over an area under the control of the armed formations of the terrorist group Jabhat al-Nusra and those affiliated with it,” explained Sergei Rudskoy, head of the main operational directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

The Mi-8 is one of the most common helicopters in the world; the machine is simple and reliable. The first model took off back in 1961, but the G8 is still in service with almost all countries on the globe.

The Mi-8AMTSh, also known as the “Terminator”, and this is the modification used in Syria, this time carried out a purely civilian mission. There were five people on board: three crew members and two officers from the Russian center for reconciliation of warring parties.

“Those who were in the helicopter, according to information received from the Ministry of Defense, died. They died heroically because they tried to take the car away in order to minimize casualties on the ground. The Kremlin deeply sympathizes with all the loved ones of our fallen servicemen,” the press secretary emphasized Russian head of state Dmitry Peskov.

Aleppo is now under siege by Syrian government troops, and inside the encirclement, in addition to militants banned in Russia, ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra, there are 200 thousand civilians. Together with official Damascus, the Russian military announced the start of a humanitarian operation: special corridors have been organized from the city through which anyone can leave besieged Aleppo. And the checkpoints, even though the mission has just begun, are already full of refugees. For many, evacuating the city is the only chance to survive.

“I knew the way and was able to escape here. They immediately gave me shelter and greeted me. The state takes care of us. I hope that the rest of my children will also be able to escape. They were caught by militants. They used me and my children as a human shield,” says the Syrian woman .

It was announced that those who want to lay down their arms can also leave the city. Eighty-two gang members have already surrendered. The militants responded to the large-scale humanitarian operation with terror.

“The terrorist units of ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and the formations of the so-called “moderate opposition” that have joined them continue continuous attacks on units of the Syrian armed forces, both in the north of Aleppo and in the south, with the aim of encircling the city. suicide terrorists,” stated Sergei Rudskoy.

In a week, two hundred and fifty local residents were killed and nine hundred wounded. Militants are deliberately killing civilians. On August 1, the neighborhoods of Al-Khalidiya, Leramon, Al-Assad, Nayrab airport and the Castello shopping center were once again fired at from home-made multiple launch rocket systems.