After the overthrow of the Assad regime, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani took control of Syria. In response to sabotage attacks by Ukrainian special services on the Khmeimim airbase, russia appealed to the new Syrian authorities to take immediate action.
One of the tools of influence on Damascus is $5 million in humanitarian food aid, which russia has pledged to deliver to Syria through the UN World Food Program, as Defense Express has learned this from its sources. Also, they told us that russians made such calls after a series of attacks on the russian Khmeimim airbase in Syria in late April.
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In particular, the successful actions of Ukrainian special services led to the disabling of the radio communications center and the base's power substation.
We have also received a video showing one of the night attacks:
russian forces are suffering setbacks at the Hmeymim Air Base and are accusing Ukrainian special services of carrying out sabotage operations pic.twitter.com/aV7Fu61pac— DEFENSE EXPRESS (@DEFENSEEXPRESS) May 8, 2025
It is known that on April 28, Ukrainian special service operators opened fire upon a russian IL-76 transport aircraft with small arms. This resulted in two confirmed losses among russian military servicemen. Their documents were later published online.
It should be noted that after the overthrow of the Assad regime, russia significantly reduced its presence in Syria and, as of December 2024, was actively withdrawing its military equipment and weapons. At the same time, under mysterious circumstances, russia lost the Ursa Major cargo ship, which belonged to the Ministry of Defense of the russian federation.
However, as of March, russians were once again feeling confident in Syria, having sent Su-35 aircraft to attack a French UAV in the area. The attack indicated that russian fighters remained stationed at the Khmeimim airbase in Syria.
Ultimately, both the activity of Ukrainian special services and Moscow’s response to it clearly indicate that the Kremlin is not prepared to withdraw from Syria.
Earlier, Defense Express reported that russia had withdrawn its only submarine-Kalibr missile carrier from Tartus.
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