Russian officer responsible for security at Syrian air base reportedly killed in Ukraine

A senior officer who was responsible for security at Russia's Hmeimim military base in north-western Syria has been killed in Ukraine, according to reports in local Russian media.

Forty-eight-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Georgi Petronen was from a military family from Volgograd in southern Russia.

There was no information regarding the exact location of his reported death.

Russia intervened in the Syrian conflict on the side of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in 2015.

Hmeimim, also known as Khemeimim, is a major Russian air base in Syria, located near the port city of Latakia. Russian forces have carried out thousands of airstrikes in the country in support of Assad's forces, targeting civilian infrastructure and killing thousands of people.

Over the weekend, the bodies of hundreds of civilians were found in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha in Ukraine, leading to worldwide outrage and accusations that Russia was committing genocide.