General Staff of Russian Armed Forces: Russian helicopter shot down in Syria

A Russian Mi-8 helicopter which was involved in the search for pilots of the crashed Su-24 has been shot down in Syria. The Ministry of Defence confirmed that one marine was killed.

"During the operation, one of the Russian helicopters was damaged and forced to land on neutral territory as a result of small-arms fire. One marine under contract was killed," the head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant-General Sergey Rudskoy said.

It is known that after the incident the helicopter crew was evacuated. All the servicemen are now at the air base Hmeymim, RBC reports.