The commander of a Russian sniper unit that operated in Syria and won decorations for heroism was killed in Ukraine.
The news about the losses suffered by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine continues, day after day, after it lost tens of thousands of military personnel, including senior commanders who previously fought in Syria.
Social media sites spread the news about the killing of the commander of the Russian sniper unit, in the battles in eastern Ukraine, last week.
Activists reported that the Russian commander of the sniper unit, nicknamed "Andrei", is considered one of the most prominent Russian war criminals accused of killing Syrian civilians when his country's forces intervened to support the Assad regime in 2015.
However, Andrei and many combat-capable Russians did not escape punishment, as Andrei was killed in the battles on the eastern fronts of Ukraine, where Russian forces suffered heavy losses in the counterattack launched by the Ukrainian army against them weeks ago.
According to informed sources, Andrey participated in the siege of the city of Aleppo in northern Syria and was involved in the killing of civilians and fighters from the ranks of the Free Syrian Army in 2016. He also played a part, alongside the Russian forces, in the mass displacement of more than 10,000 civilians from the city at that time.
According to the sources, the Russian commander received two medals for bravery, in his position as the commander of the sniper unit of the paratrooper battalion, and he died from human wounds caused to him as a result of the bombing that his position suffered in eastern Ukraine.
Andrei served in the Russian army since 2004, and participated in the fighting against Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion in 2022, before he breathed his last a few days ago.
Last year, a senior officer from the mercenary ranks of the Wagner militia was killed on the front lines in Ukraine, after participating in fighting alongside Assad's militia in Syria and receiving a medal, personally, from President Bashar al-Assad.
The British newspaper Express reported at the time that Sergei Kononov, one of the prominent mercenaries of the Wagner group, was killed during the fighting in Ukraine.