The number of dead and injured in the Syrian battle of Russians reached 300 people

About 300, people working for the Kremlin-related Russian private military company were killed and injured in Syria last week, said Reuters three sources familiar with the circumstances of the incident.

Фото: Depositphotos

A Russian military doctor said that about 100 people died, and a source who knows several fighters said that the number of victims exceeded 80.

Loss time coincided with the 7 battle of February in the vicinity of the Syrian city of Deir-ez-Zor, where, according to American officials and participants in the clash, the forces of the US-led coalition attacked the formations associated with Moscow’s ally, President Syria Bashar Assad.

Russian authorities сообщили about the possible death of five citizens who are not related to the armed forces.

The clashes show that Moscow is more involved in the Syrian events from a military point of view than it has said earlier, and risks being drawn into direct confrontation with the United States in this Middle Eastern country.

Фото: Depositphotos

The losses suffered by Russia have become the largest since the war in eastern Ukraine in 2014. Moscow denied sending the military and volunteers to Ukraine and never confirmed the loss reports.

The wounded, evacuated from Syria in the last few days, were taken to four Russian military hospitals, five sources familiar with the situation said.

A military doctor working in a Moscow hospital and treating the injured brought from Syria said that as of Saturday there were more than 50 such patients in his hospital, of whom 30 percent were seriously injured.

The doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was forbidden to disclose information about the losses, said that at least three aircraft with wounded arrived to Moscow from Friday to Monday.

According to him, these were specially equipped military transport planes, in which there is a 2-3 module for seriously wounded and up to several dozen seats for the slightly wounded.

Maria Zakharova, a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said on Thursday that, according to preliminary information, five Russian citizens could have died in the battle area, but they were not military personnel. According to her, reports of dozens and hundreds of dead Russians were disinformation opponents of Russia.

Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation did not answer questions Rider about losses in Syria.

A Kremlin spokesman, in response to a question about Russia's losses in Syria, said on Thursday that he had nothing to add to previous statements. Earlier this week, the Kremlin сообщилthat does not have information about any losses.

Rider I could not directly contact the contractor’s employer, the so-called Wagner group, whose fallen fighters had received Kremlin awards in the past.

The military doctor said that he knows from a resuscitator who flew to Syria to pick up the wounded that as of the end of last week, the number of dead was about 100 and the number of wounded was about 200.

Yevgeny Shabayev, the ataman of the Cossack society “Khovrino”, who has connections with private military experts, said that on Wednesday he visited his acquaintances wounded in Syria at the Central Military Hospital of the Ministry of Defense in Khimki.

According to him, the wounded told him that the two units of Russian private military specialists who had participated in the battle near Deir ez-Zor had numbered 550 people. Of this number, no 200 people were killed or injured.

Shabayev said that in the ward he visited, there were 8 people, all evacuated from Syria over the past few days. Other wards of the ward were fully occupied by the wounded.

“If you understand what combat operations and combat injuries are, then you can imagine what’s going on there. That is, constant screams, moans... It’s a difficult picture,” he said.

A source close to the Wagner group, who spoke with the participants of the February 7 battle, said that his acquaintances told him about more than the 80 dead private military experts from Russia.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the total number of about 300 killed and wounded was broadly correct.

According to him, in the bodies of many wounded fragments that are not visible on the X-ray, which makes treatment difficult.

“The prognosis for most victims is disappointing,” he said.

War through intermediaries

In addition to the hospital in Khimki, the wounded are treated at the Third Vishnevsky Central Military Clinical Hospital in Krasnogorsk near Moscow, the Burdenko Moscow Main Military Clinical Hospital and the Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, said the doctor, Shabayev and three other people who know the dead and wounded fighters.

Reuters contacted the indicated hospitals by telephone on Thursday. The staff either refused to comment or denied the presence of patients brought from Syria.

The main facade of the hospital building. Burdenko. Photo: wikipedia.org

Correspondent Rider visited the Burdenko Hospital on Wednesday and briefly spoke with patients who said they did not know anything about anyone evacuated from Syria. Journalists Rider they also visited the hospital in Krasnogorsk and the hospital in Balashikha, but they were not allowed to go into the buildings.

Russia launched a military operation in Syria in September 2015, turning the tide of the conflict in favor of Assad.

Russian officials deny the use of private military specialists in Syria, saying that Moscow’s presence comes down to air strikes, a naval base and military instructors training the Syrian military, as well as a small number of special operations forces soldiers.

However, according to people familiar with the situation, the Russian authorities use a large number of private contractors in Syria, as this allows them to increase their presence in the conflict zone without risking the lives of ordinary soldiers, whose death they would have had to report.

The contract workers, most of them former military personnel, carry out tasks for the Russian military, people familiar with the situation say. Most of them are Russian citizens, although some have Ukrainian and Serbian passports.

The United States and Russia, supporting the opposing sides in the Syrian conflict, are making considerable efforts to avoid military clashes. But the presence of private military experts from the Russian Federation introduces an element of unpredictability.

Exploration by battle

An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said last week that Assad's allies, with the support of artillery, tanks, jet systems and mortars, attacked the 7 of February by US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters near Deir ez-Zor.

US officials say that American special forces were attacked along with the VTS.

A coalition led by the United States responded to the attack, killing an 100 man from the Allied Assad Forces, the official said.

After the battle, the comrades of Russian private military experts said that the Russians were among the pro-Sadov forces, who are among the victims.

Shabayev said that the losses were so high due to the lack of air support, and also because well-equipped forces, rather than poorly armed militants, struck.

“First there was a bomber raid, and then the Apaches cleared them out,” Shabaev said, citing the words of the wounded.

A source close to the Wagner group said that the forces that were hit by the coalition consisted mainly of Russian private military experts, plus “some Syrians and Iranians.”

According to him, 7 February, these forces moved to the village of Hsham in the province of Deir-ez-Zor, in the zone designated as neutral by agreement between the Russian military and the coalition led by the United States.

He said that the goal was to check how the coalition responded. According to him, the forces approached the positions of the VTS and the Americans at a distance less than 5 kilometers.

This source said that the forces led by the United States, in accordance with the procedure agreed with Russia, warned the Russian military that they were preparing to strike. He does not know whether this warning was transmitted to private military experts.

“The warning was 20 minutes in advance, it is impossible to deploy the convoy in such a time, but the formalities have been completed,” the source said.

According to him, private experts did not respond to fire, so as not to provoke new strikes by the coalition.

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