Former Russian MP: 334 Russians were killed in the US airstrike in Syria
334 Russians were killed in the airstrike of the US-led coalition on February 7. 217 people were from the fifth assault squad, 10 people from the second assault squad, 94 from Vesna (Spring) assault squad and 13 people from the artillery battalion, said former State Duma Deputy Viktor Alksnis during a broadcast of the Russian TV Channel Dozhd (Rain), stressing that it was an unofficial statistics.
"This data is collected from a survey of family members of those who fought in Syria and who have information on the recent events there. In my opinion, this is not a final number ", he noted.
According to him, servicemen of Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Russia took part in the operation on February 7. At this time, there is no information about the dead and injured among them.
The statistics have also been posted on Alksnis’ Facebook page. Alksnis notes that there is a large number of wounded in Russian hospitals.
On February 7, the US-led coalition forces conducted the strike against the Syrian militia affiliated with Assad in the province of Deir ez Zor. The U.S. coalition said that the blow was struck in response to an attack on the headquarters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). According to Reuters, at least 100 people were killed in the attack.
Later, reports started appearing of the presence of the Russian military among the forces attacked by the US-led coalition.
The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the deaths of five Russians as a result of the American air strike.