Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone talk with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who expressed strong support for Russia's special military operation to protect Donbas, the Kremlin press service reported.

"At the initiative of the Syrian side, Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian president expressed strong support for Russia's special military operation to protect civilians of the Donbas republics, while condemning the destabilizing policy of the USA and NATO, which in its time led to serious degradation of the situation in the Middle East as well," the statement said.