united nations:
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday that some fighters were “openly flaunting” the association and accused Ukrainian intelligence of supporting rebels fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. denounced.
The rebels fighting the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) “not only do not hide the fact that they receive support from Ukraine, they openly flaunt this,” Wassily said. Nebenzia told the Security Council.
The envoy said there were “identifiable traces” indicating that Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence service was “providing weapons to militants” in northwestern Syria.
Nebenzia claimed that “Ukrainian military instructors from the GUR are present and are training HTS fighters for combat operations, including combat with Russian forces in Syria.”
Last week’s new offensive led by HTS and its allies marks a major shift on the front lines of Syria’s long-frozen civil war, with Syria’s fourth He marched into the city of Hama.
Russia is one of President Assad’s key allies. Its intervention in Syria’s civil war in 2015 turned the tide in its favor.
Amid the new offensive, a statement from the Syrian military command announced that the Syrian army is attacking “terrorist groups” in northern Hama and Idlib provinces with Russian air support.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that “the main responsibility lies with Russia and Iran, both of which support President Assad’s hardline regime” for the recent escalation in fighting.
Kiev has criticized Assad for approving Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and said Ukrainians are also being targeted nightly by Iranian-designed drones.
“Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and his Iranian allies will not lose control of the puppet Syrian regime, which the majority of Syrians associate with inhuman atrocities, oppression and crimes,” the ministry said. We continue to make every effort to do so.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
