Viktor Bondarev

Day 703 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 17 declared his country's Syria mission a resounding success, but stressed Russia would continue to support the Syrian government and could build up its military presence in the region again within hours if necessary. 

Russia will complete the withdrawal of the bulk of its forces from Syria before the end of the week, a top Russian general suggested in an interview published on March 17.

According to the Russian Air force Commander in Chief, Colonel Viktor Bondarev the withdrawal of the largest part of Russian forces from Syria will be completed within the next two to three days. Speaking to Russian newspaper ‘Kosmomolskaya Pravda’. Israel has asked for reassurances from Russia that its withdrawal will not strengthen Hezbollah and Shiite paramilitary groups in Syria.

Turkish security forces have refuted claims by Russian Air Force Commander Viktor Bondarev that a Russian aircraft had violated Turkey's airspace on Oct. 3 for a short while, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported. 

A Russian Su-30 warplane was forced to enter Turkish airspace on October 3 "while performing an evasive maneuver against a surface-to-air missile system."

RT is quoting Russian Air Force commander Viktor Bondarev as saying that the Sukhoi jet was on a combat mission in Northern Syria "in very dense cloud conditions."

A Russian airforce helicopter crashed during an air show on August 2 in front of thousands of spectators, killing one pilot, the latest in a string of military crashes.

Russia is going to set up an air base in eastern Belarus and deploy Su-27 fighter jets there, Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief Viktor Bondarev said on Wednesday.

The air base of the Russian and Belarusian Air Force will be established in Bobruysk in 2016, ITAR-TASS quoted Bondarev as saying during a visit to the facilities under construction.