Exclusive videos obtained by Kyiv Post from sources in Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate(GUR) show Ukrainian special forces and Syrian rebels killing Russian mercenaries in Syria. The video is dated March 2024.
The HUR special unit “Chemist” in cooperation with the Syrian opposition attacks Russian mercenaries fighting on the side of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.
Active hostilities continue in the southern part of the country, particularly in the Golan Heights, where Russian troops are currently concentrated.
According to a Kyiv Post source in the HUR, since the beginning of the year, rebels supported by Ukrainian operatives have launched numerous attacks on Russian military facilities represented in the region by the so-called “grouping of the Russian Armed Forces in the Syrian Arab Republic.”
The source, who spoke to the Kyiv Post on condition of anonymity, said that there are constant attacks on enemy checkpoints, strongholds, foot patrols, military convoys and other targets.
These attacks include the use of rocket-propelled grenade launchers and improvised Tarab mortars to attack defensive positions and what appears to be command wire or radio-controlled improvised explosive devices (IEDs), attack vehicles, including a minibus traveling at high speeds on the main road, and enemy foot patrols.
What are Ukrainian special forces doing in Syria?
Russia’s intervention in Syria in 2015, initially aimed at supporting President Assad’s regime during the civil war, led to the permanent deployment of thousands of Russian troops there.Last fall 2022, Moscow redeployed some troops and equipment from Syria to the Ukrainian battlefield, potentially making its troops in Syria more vulnerable to Ukrainian attacks in the region.
At the same time, given their long-standing presence in the region, Russians have set up numerous recruitment centers to deploy Syrian mercenaries in Ukraine.
The recruitment of mercenaries is carried out under the supervision of the “Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties and Control over the Movement of Refugees” from the Russian-occupied Hmeymim air base.
There, mercenaries are issued Russian passports and then mobilized into the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces.
In May 2023, the head of the GRU, Kirill Budanov, promised to “destroy Russian war criminals anywhere in the world, wherever they are.”
In addition to Syria, Ukraine’s GUR special forces continue to hunt down pro-Kremlin mercenaries of the Wagner PMC in Sudan.