**Russia‘s Military Equipment Stuck in Syria**
The new Syrian government has refused to let a Russian ship into the country. The ship, called Sparta II, is supposed to take out Russian military equipment from Russia’s base in Tartus, Syria.
This is after a big change in Syria’s politics. In December, rebel forces took down the dictator Bashar al-Assad, who was backed by Russia. Now, the Syrian government has changed and it doesn’t want to let the Russians leave their equipment just yet.
The Sparta II ship has been stuck near Tartus since January 5. It left from a different country, called Kaliningrad Oblast, on December 11. Russian forces have taken down some air defense radars and moved over 100 trucks of equipment to the port, but they can’t leave because there are no ships to take them out.
The only way Russia’s military assets can be evacuated now is from another base called Khmeimim Air Base. But even that route might not work if the new Syrian government doesn’t agree to let the Russians leave.
Ukraine and Syria have a similar view on Russia’s presence in Syria, but they didn’t say what it is exactly.
**Update on Ukraine**
There was another news story about an attack in Ukraine. Thirteen people were killed and 122 others were hurt, including a child. The search and rescue operations are now over.