5 Russian troops killed as helicopter is shot down in Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman says all five Russian soldiers aboard the Mi-8 helicopter downed in Syria’s Idlib province have been killed.

Dmitry Peskov tells journalists that “from what we know from information provided by the Defense Ministry, all those who were on the helicopter died.”

He says the Russians “died heroically because they tried to move the aircraft away so to minimize losses on the ground.”

Earlier, the ministry said the transport helicopter was shot down but that the fate of the five — three crew members and two officers — was unknown.

The Russian Defense Ministry says a transport helicopter has been shot down in Syria, but the fate of the five people onboard is still unknown.

— AP