Moscow, SANA – The Russian Defense Ministry said that a Russian helicopter was shot down by terrorists in Idleb countryside on Monday after delivering humanitarian aid to Aleppo city.
In a statement, the Ministry said that the Mi-8 helicopter was carrying five Russian personnel; a crew of three and two officers from the Russian Coordination Center in Hmeimim airbase, and that it was shot down using anti-air weapons as it was making its way back to Hmeimim airbase in Lattakia from Aleppo where it dropped off humanitarian aid.
The Ministry had said that the fate of the five personnel who were on board was unknown, but later Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that they were killed as they tried to maneuver the helicopter away from inhabited areas to avoid collateral damage on the ground.
H. Zain/ Hazem Sabbagh